Recent federal statistical reports have brought news of progress in reducing unemployment in Alabama. While having a job remains at the top of the Christmas wish list for too many, the numbers indicate that far fewer Alabamians will be out of work this Christmas season.
Like many states, Alabama has endured very high unemployment rates for the past two years. Joblessness peaked at 11.1 percent in January 2010, when almost 228,000 Alabamians were out of work. This figure is about double the peak level of unemployment experienced during the last economic downturn in 2003.
Since January 2010, the number of unemployed in Alabama has fallen by 38,000, according to the most recent statistics. Employment has grown by 69,000 as the economy absorbed not only unemployed workers but also people entering the workforce. Even so, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ last report showed that 8.9 percent of the state’s workers were without jobs in October.
Alabama’s unemployment rate fell by more percentage points than that of any other state during the last 12 months. Since August, Alabama’s unemployment rate has been below the national unemployment rate, which stands at 9.6 percent.
Much of the improved job climate has come in urban areas, where three of every four employed Alabamians work. Of the 28 counties in the state designated as “metropolitan,” only six still have unemployment rates in double digits. On the other hand, 25 of the 39 rural, or “nonmetropolitan,” counties have unemployment rates of more than 10 percent, and eight of them — Bullock, Clarke, Conecuh, Dallas, Greene, Monroe, Perry and Wilcox — have more than 15 percent of their workforce without a job. In Wilcox County, more than 20 percent of workers are jobless.
While improved work opportunities have come to many areas, the kind of prosperity enjoyed only a few years ago has not returned, and in some counties, the journey to recovery has not yet begun.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Jim Williams is executive director of the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama.
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