Alabama employment at record high for fifth month

Alabama’s worker count reached a record high for the fifth month in a row in September, Gov. Kay Ivey’s office announced Friday.

“Not only are we experiencing record high employment, this month we’ve also broken another record – our economy is currently supporting the most number of jobs in history,” Ivey said. “September’s job count of 2,048,000 bypasses the previous record of 2,045,800, which was set in December 2007.”

The state also broke a record high in wage and salary employment.

Etowah County’s unemployment rate saw a reduction as well, from 4.3 percent in August to 3.9 percent in September, though in September of 2017 the county had a rate of 3.8 percent, slightly lower than this year.

The county’s labor force moved up from August’s 42,944 people to September’s 43,267, a difference of 323 people, and 653 more people than last September’s 42,614 workers.

Etowah County reported 1,865 unemployed persons in August, down to 1,699 in September, a 166-person difference. Last September the county reported 1,636 unemployed people.

Alabama had a year-over-year job growth of 1.3 percent, the largest percentage increase in 2018.

“In January, economists predicted that Alabama would see job growth of 27,000 in 2018. I’m pleased to say that, year-to-date, we’ve already seen job growth of 47,000, surpassing that prediction by 20,000 jobs, and we still have three months left to grow,” Secretary of Labor Fitzgerald Washington said.

Wage and salary employment increased in September by 9,100. Monthly gains were seen in the government sector (+6,000), the education and health services sector (+4,000), and the professional and business services sector (+2,100), among others.

Over the year, wage and salary employment increased by 26,800, with gains in the professional and business services sector (+11,500), the manufacturing sector (+8,200), and the construction sector (+2,800), among others.

Alabama’s preliminary, seasonally adjusted September unemployment rate is 4.1 percent.

September’s rate represents 2,117,027 people working, which is also a record high. In August, 2,112,099 people were counted as employed, and 2,082,085 were counted as employed in September 2017.

Average weekly earnings increased over the year by $53.82. Manufacturing weekly earnings increased by $27.18 over the year, and construction weekly earnings were up $55.08 over the year.

The rate represents 90,830 unemployed persons, compared to 91,183 in August and 83,667 in September 2017.

Counties with the lowest unemployment rates were Shelby County at 2.8 percent, Cullman County at 3.1 percent, and Marshall and Elmore Counties at 3.3 percent.

Counties with the highest unemployment rates were Wilcox County at 9.3 percent, Clarke County at 7.3 percent and Lowndes County at 7.2 percent.

Major cities with the lowest unemployment rates were Vestavia Hills at 2.5 percent, Homewood at 2.6 percent,and Alabaster at 2.7 percent.

Major cities with the highest unemployment rates were Selma at 7.7 percent, Prichard at 7.2 percent, and Bessemer and Anniston at 5.2 percent.