Alabama unemployment rate drops to 5.4 percent in August 2016

Alabama’s total unemployment rate continued to fall in August, dropping to 5.4 percent from the July rate of 5.7 percent, according to data released Friday by Governor Robert Bentley‘s office.

“Lowering the unemployment rate and putting Alabamians back to work have been the major goals of my administration, and I’m proud to say that this month our unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been since I took office,” said Bentley. “These last two months have been great for Alabama! Our unemployment rate has dropped six tenths of a percent since June.”

“We’ve had a good jobs week in Alabama,” Bentley continued. “There was a huge job fair in the Wiregrass region of the state, with record attendance.  We also announced more than 100 jobs in Houston County.  And in addition to marking the lowest unemployment rate of my administration, we can also say that we have the least number of unemployed Alabamians in more than eight years.”

Major cities with the lowest unemployment rates are:

• Vestavia Hills: 3.7%
• Homewood: 3.9%
• Hoover: 4.0%

Major cities with the highest unemployment rates are:

• Selma: 10.2%
• Prichard: 9.5%,
• Bessemer: 8.9%.

“Not only did we see the unemployment rate drop, but we also saw the number of jobs our economy supports increase,” said Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington. “Our total wage and salary employment is reaching levels that we haven’t seen in nearly eight years. Manufacturing employment is at its second highest level since 2009. These numbers show us that employers have jobs and are hiring Alabamians.”

August’s rate represents 116,361 unemployed persons. The last time the number of unemployed persons was at or below 116,361 was May 2008, when the number measured 113,343.

“The continued improvement reaches to the county level as well,” continued Washington. “Over the year, 66 of 67 counties experienced a drop in their unemployment rates, some counties by more than two percentage points.”