Alabama’s unemployment rate drops to 6.3% [With county by county map]

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August 16, 2013

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley on Friday announced that Alabama’s preliminary, seasonally-adjusted July unemployment rate is 6.3%, down from June’s rate of 6.5% and well below July 2012’s rate of 7.6%.

According to release by the Governor’s office, July 2013’s rate represents 135,089 unemployed persons, down from 140,024 in the previous month and 163,932 in July of 2012.

The last time Alabama’s unemployment rate was at or below 6.3% was October of 2008 when the rate was 5.9%.

“While we are encouraged to see another drop in our unemployment rate, we need to remember there is still a lot of work to be done,” Governor Bentley said in a statement. “We will continue to recruit more jobs. We will continue to show how Alabama is a great place to do business. We will encourage more companies to build here and expand and hire more people. And we will continue these efforts until everyone who wants a job is able to find one.”

Currently, over 15,000 jobs are available on JobLink, Alabama’s free online jobs database.

Help Wanted Online (HWOL) data, which counts jobs on JobLink and other online sources, counts more than 51,000 total job ads in Alabama. The professions with the most jobs advertised online, as reflected by HWOL, are registered nursing and truck driving, with average hourly wages of $26.37 and $17.99 respectively.

The 20 occupations with the most job openings posted can be seen in the graphic to the right.

“We continue to prove that Alabama is one of the most business-friendly states in the nation with yet another month of decline in the unemployment rate,” House Speaker Mike Hubbard told Yellowhammer. “Our focus on pro-business, pro-private sector policies that reduce the burdensome red tape and encourage businesses to grow and expand are working and we will continue to work hard to recruit more industries and create more jobs in our great state.”

Counties with the lowest unemployment rates for July of 2013 are: Shelby County at 4.2%, Baldwin County at 5.3% and Cullman County at 5.4%. Counties with the highest unemployment rates are: Wilcox County at 16.3%, Perry County at 14.7% and Dallas County at 14.4%.

A map that illustrates the unemployment rates in all Alabama counties can be found below.

[Click to enlarge]