Alabama’s labor force participation rate dipped slightly in July to 57.9%, down from 58.0% in June, Department of Workforce Secretary Greg Reed said. Over the past year, the rate rose by 0.4 percentage points. The share of prime-age workers — those between 25 and 54 — also fell slightly to 78.4%.
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The labor participation rate measures the number of working adults in a population. As the number of people searching for jobs reached historic lows, Alabama policymakers have focused on the labor rate and those people — 42.1% -not participating in the state’s workforce.
“Our unemployment rate continues to remain low and is well below the national unemployment rate,” Reed said. “We are continuing to see yearly gains in our labor force participation rate, and our economy added more than 28,000 new jobs. These are all signs of continued positive economic news in Alabama.”
Alabama’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 3.0% in July, down from 3.2% in June and matching the July 2024 rate. That represents 72,506 unemployed people actively seeking work, compared to 75,640 the previous month.
Employment reached a record high of 2,311,434, an increase of 33,876 over the year, while the civilian labor force grew to 2,383,940.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Trisha Powell Crain and originally published by Alabama Daily News.
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