Alabama’s June 2017 Unemployment Rate Drops to 4.6%

MONTGOMERY – Governor Kay Ivey and Alabama Department of Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington announced today that Alabama’s preliminary, seasonally adjusted June unemployment rate is 4.6%, down from May’s rate of 4.9%, and significantly lower than June 2016’s rate of 5.8%.  June’s rate represents 100,376 unemployed persons, compared to 107,223 in May and 125,000 in June 2016. 2,077,275 people were counted as employed in June, down slightly from May’s count of 2,088,502, but well above June 2016’s count of 2,040,370.
“Alabama’s unemployment continues to drop, and our economy continues to add jobs.  As of now, we are only two-tenths of a percentage point away from catching up to the national unemployment rate,” said Governor Kay Ivey.  “Even though our numbers are improving, I continue to pledge to work even harder to make sure that any Alabamian who wants a job can find one.”
“For the third month in a row, we can report that our wage and salary employment is topping two million jobs.  This has been a milestone we’ve strived to reach for years, and is an excellent indicator of economic health,” said Washington.  “We’ve added 46,100 private sector jobs since January, and our over the year job growth rate was 1.8%, the highest it’s been in 11 years!”
The last time the yearly growth in wage and salary employment measured more than 1.8% was in June 2006, when it measured 2.2%.
Wage and salary employment increased in June by 6,000 to 2,016,400.  Monthly gains were seen in the leisure and hospitality sector (+6,000), the other services sector (+1,200), and the professional and business services sector (+1,000), among others.
Over the year, wage and salary employment increased 34,800, with gains in the leisure and hospitality sector (+10,800), the professional and business services sector (+6,900), and the education and health services sector (+6,200), among others.
Counties with the lowest unemployment rates are: Shelby County at 3.8%, Elmore, Cullman, and Baldwin Counties at 4.3%, and Marshall County at 4.5%.  Counties with the highest unemployment rates are: Wilcox County at 13.5%, Clarke County at 10.6%, and Perry County at 10.2%.
Major cities with the lowest unemployment rates are: Vestavia Hills at 3.2%, Hoover at 3.6%, and Homewood at 3.7%.  Major cities with the highest unemployment rates are: Prichard and Selma at 10.1%, Anniston at 7.0%, and Mobile and Bessemer at 6.5%.
June 2017 City Rates
June 2017 County Rates
June 2017 County Map

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Members of the media seeking more information should contact Communications Director Tara Hutchison at (334) 242-8616.

“Seasonal adjustment” refers to BLS’s practice of anticipating certain trends in the labor force, such as hiring during the holidays or the surge in the labor force when students graduate in the spring, and removing their effects to the civilian labor force.
The Current Population (CPS), or the household survey, is conducted by the Census Bureau and identifies members of the work force and measures how many people are working or looking for work.
The establishment survey, which is conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), a division of the U.S. Department of Labor, surveys employers to measure how many jobs are in the economy.  This is also referred to as wage and salary employment.