Madison County employment rate second lowest in the state
Madison County continues to have the second-lowest unemployment rate, as the September figures were recently released.
The county’s unemployment rate is 7.1 percent, while Shelby County remains the lowest at 6.8 percent.
The state’s rate fell to 8.9 percent, down from 9.2 in August.
The 2009 rate for September was 10.7.
September’s rate represents 188,644 unemployed Alabamians, down from 192,539 in August.
“This is the fifth month in a row that Alabama has seen a decline in its unemployment rate,” said Alabama Department of Industrial Relations Director Tom Surtees. “Once again, our rate is below the national average of 9.6 percent, and we recently had some good news that several of our metro areas have experienced some of the largest drops in unemployment in the nation.”
Initial claims for September were 23,770, down from 28,403 in September 2009. Benefit payments were $31,558,816 in September.
The counties with the highest rates were Wilcox (20.9 percent), Greene (19.8 percent) and Dallas (17.2 percent).
