Alabama’s unemployment rate decreased from 4.7 percent in December to 4.3 percent in January, according to the Alabama Department of Labor. January’s seasonally adjusted rate represents 97,726 unemployed persons, down from 106,318 in December. That compares to 59,405 in January 2020.
“As we begin a new year, it’s encouraging to see our monthly unemployment rate drop, marking a new record low since the pandemic began,” said ADOL Secretary Fitzgerald Washington. “While we are still not where we were before this year of massive change, we are making progress. More people were employed this month, and fewer were unemployed, which is always good news.”
The number of people counted as employed in January was 2,160,347, up slightly from 2,157,736 in December, but down from the 2,180,872 measured in January 2020.
Washington said that a decline in jobs is typical from December to January.
“This happens nearly every year and is related to holiday and seasonal employment ending. Combined with the extraordinary circumstances of the last year, it’s not surprising to see job losses. However, the trends of the past few months indicate that we will likely soon begin to see the jobs number climb again,” he said.
