Alabama unemployment falls from August to September

Governor Robert Bentley's office says Alabama's unemployment rate fell from August to September.

The preliminary unemployment rate for September was at 8.3%, down from the August rate of 8.5% and last year's rate of 8.8%. The Governor's office says the rate represents 177,848 unemployed persons, compared to August's 183,267 and 192,667 a year ago.

"More Alabamians are working this month, and that is certainly good news for the state," Governor Robert Bentley said. "We still have a long way to go, and I will continue doing everything I can to put Alabamians back to work."

Alabama's online jobs database, www.joblink.alabama.gov, is continuing to see record breaking numbers of jobs, logging a high of 12,764 new job orders in September.

"As far as unemployment compensation goes, nearly every indicator we measure is well below pre-recession levels. Claims data don't directly impact the unemployment rate, but they do allow us to gauge the frequency with which people are losing their jobs," Alabama Department of Labor Director Tom Surtees said.

The counties with the lowest unemployment rates were: Shelby County at 5.2%, Coffee County at 6.2%, and Lee, Limestone, and Madison Counties at 6.4%. The counties with the highest unemployment rates were: Wilcox County at 17.8%, Bullock County at 15.4%, and Dallas County at 15.1%.

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