The state added 42,300 jobs in June, bringing the unemployment rate to 7.5 percent, according to the Alabama Department of Labor. That’s down from 9.6 percent in May.
June’s rate represents 165,770 unemployed people, compared to 216,043 in May. There are about 100,000 more people out of work than last June, when 65,389 unemployed put the rate at 2.9 percent.
“We continue to make gains in our unemployment rate but remain above the record low rates we were experiencing prior to this pandemic,” said ADL Secretary Fitzgerald Washington. “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.”
The most monthly gains were seen in the leisure and hospitality sector, followed by the trade, transportation and utilities sector, then professional and business services and manufacturing.
For the year overall, there have been 119,500 job losses. The hardest-hit sectors have been leisure and hospitality, government and professional and business services.
Counties with the lowest unemployment rates are:
- Clay County – 4.6 percent
- Shelby, Marshall and Cullman Counties – 5.4 percent
- Geneva and DeKalb Counties – 5.6 percent
Counties with the highest unemployment rates are:
- Wilcox County – 18.5 percent
- Lowndes County – 16.5 percent
- Perry County – 14.1 percent
Major cities with the lowest unemployment rates are:
- Vestavia Hills – 4.5 percent
- Homewood – 4.8 percent
- Madison – 4.1 percent
Major cities with the highest unemployment rates are:
- Pritchard – 18.8 percent
- Selma – 15.3 percent
- Bessemer and Mobile – 13 percent
Unemployment rates are calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
