MONTGOMERY – Alabama Department of Industrial Relations Director Tom Surtees announced today that Alabama’s preliminary August unemployment rate is 8.5%, up from July’s rate of 8.3%, but below last year’s rate of 9.1%. August’s rate represents 183,315 unemployed persons, compared to 179,189 last month and 198,444 in August 2011.
“While the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased over the previous month,
Alabama Department of Industrial Relations Director Tom Surtees
we saw fewer unemployment compensation claims filed during the same time period and continued to see record numbers of job openings posted on Joblink. Also, 63 of 67 counties saw their unemployment rates drop or remain the same this month. These are some positive signs in spite of the increase in the seasonally adjusted rate,” continued Surtees.
August 2012 saw 19,327 new unemployment compensation claims, compared to 25,031 in 2011, 27,683 in 2010, 31,111 in 2009, and 20,766 in 2008. The pre-recession number of claims in August 2007 was 17,346.
www.joblink.alabama.gov, the state’s free online jobs database, continued to experience record numbers of available jobs openings, reaching 14,546 in August.
Counties with the lowest unemployment rates are: Shelby County at 5.8%, Coffee County at 7.1%, Blount County at 7.2%, Limestone County at 7.2%, and Madison County at 7.2%.
Counties with the highest unemployment rates are: Wilcox County at 19.2%, Bullock County at 17.1%, and Dallas County at 16.6%.
Unemployment rates for Colbert County – 8.7%, Franklin County – 9.5%, Lauderdale County – 7.9%, and Madison County – 7.2%.
PRESS RELEASE-ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
