Alabama Department of Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington on Friday announced that the state’s preliminary, seasonally adjusted June unemployment rate was 7.5%.
While this was down from May’s revised rate of 9.6%, it was also far above June 2019’s rate of 2.9% as Alabama still feels the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The latest unemployment rate represents 165,770 unemployed Alabamians, compared to 216,043 in May and 65,389 in June of last year.
“We continue to make gains in our unemployment rate but remain above the record low rates we were experiencing prior to this pandemic,” Washington said in a statement.
He also raised a new alarm, as initial unemployment claims have risen (albeit by a relatively small amount) in three of the past four weeks.
“People are returning to work as the economy further reopens, but we are beginning to see slight rises in the number of initial unemployment claims filed each week,” Washington continued.
Wage and salary employment grew in June by 42,300. Monthly gains were seen in the leisure and hospitality sector (+24,100); the trade, transportation and utilities sector (+8,900); the professional and business services sector (+6,900); and the manufacturing sector (+4,800), among others.
Over the year, wage and salary employment decreased 119,500, with losses in the leisure and hospitality sector (-40,700); the government sector (-24,500); and the professional and business services sector (-21,400), among others.
A recent report from the Small Business Administration revealed coronavirus-related job losses could have been much worse for the Yellowhammer State without the support of the federal government’s CARES Act. The Payment Protection Program reportedly supported 700,000 Alabama jobs as of June 30.
Counties with the lowest unemployment rates in June were: Clay County at 4.6%; Shelby, Marshall and Cullman Counties at 5.4%; and Geneva and DeKalb Counties at 5.6%.
Counties with the highest unemployment rates were: Wilcox County at 18.5%, Lowndes County at 16.9% and Perry County at 14.1%.
Major cities with the lowest unemployment rates were: Vestavia Hills at 4.5%, Homewood at 4.8% and Madison at 5.1%. Major cities with the highest unemployment rates were Prichard at 18.8%, Selma at 15.3% and Bessemer and Mobile at 13.0%.
Alabama’s June Unemployment Rate Drops to 7.5% https://t.co/odg1fwhIna@GovernorKayIvey @ADOLSecretary @ALWorksSystem pic.twitter.com/e7SdLBPYT8
— ADOL (@al_labor) July 17, 2020
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
