On Monday, Gov. Kay Ivey announced that Alabama’s preliminary, seasonally adjusted January unemployment rate is just 2.6%. That is unchanged from December 2022’s revised rate and January 2022’s rate. Only 58,411 persons qualify as unemployed persons under the government’s definition. That is down from 59,986 in December and 60,270 in January 2022.
“I’m proud to kick off 2023 with a continuation of Alabama’s unemployment rate holding steady,” said Gov. Ivey. “We have been enjoying a period of low unemployment, high wages, and high jobs count for some time now, and I believe that more is yet to come. We will not back down on our commitment to continue to bring quality, high-paying jobs to Alabama.”
Over the year, wage and salary employment increased by 54,100 jobs, with notable gains in the manufacturing sector (+10,400), the professional and business services sector (+8,700), and the private education and health services sector (+7,500), among others.
“Additionally, we’re continuing to see positive increases in our wages, meaning more money in Alabamians’ pockets,” said Alabama Department of Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington. “This month, we reached one of our highest average weekly wages in history.”
Total private wages increased by $30.12/weekly over the year to $1,008.61 in January. This marks the third-highest weekly wages in history.
The Alabama counties with the lowest unemployment rates are Shelby County at just 1.8%, Morgan County at 2.0%, and Marshall, Madison, Limestone, and Cullman Counties at 2.1%.
The counties with the highest unemployment rates are Wilcox County at 8.8%, Clarke County at 5.9%, and Dallas County at 5.4%.
The major cities with the lowest unemployment rates are Homewood at 1.6%, Madison at 1.7%, and Alabaster, Trussville, and Vestavia Hills at 1.8%.
The major cities with the highest unemployment rates are Selma at 6.4%, Prichard at 5.2%, and Bessemer at 4.2%. Selma was hard hit by a tornado that devastated much of the town in January.
The Alabama labor force’s total size increased to 2,284,792 from 2,283,890 in December and 2,278,519 in January 2022. The national unemployment rate dropped to 3.4% in January – down from 3.5% in December and 4.0% in January 2022. The 3.4% national rate is the lowest in 50 years.
The Alabama Labor Force Participation Rate actually dropped throughout 2022 to 56.7%. This is down from 56.9% in Jan. 2022. The U.S. Labor Force Participation Rate is 62.4%. That is up slightly from 62.3% in December and 62.2% in Jan. 2022.
The historically low labor participation rate concerns some economists. Dr. Samuel Gregg is a distinguished fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research.
“THIS is the employment number that should concern Americans: our abysmal labor participation rate,” said Dr. Gregg. “Some Americans have stopped looking OR decided that they don’t want to work OR cobbled together enough forms of welfare rather than work.”
While many older Americans who were sent home due to the COVID-19 shutdowns simply retired, there is a large number of younger persons who either dropped out of the workforce or finished school and never entered the workforce.
Rachel Greszler is a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a former senior economist at the Joint Economic Committee of Congress.
“The troubling part is, what does this mean for the future of the workforce?” Greszler told FOX Business. “When you talk about people who are kind of displaced from the education or worker experience routes that they otherwise would have gone into, and instead just kind of been idle at home — living with mom and dad or maybe in a group setting and just able to live off welfare benefits — they’re not getting the experience and the education they need. So I think it’s really troubling going forward that we could see this have a more longer-term impact.”
The February employment numbers are expected to be released sometime this week.
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