County maintains state’s lowest jobless rate

Madison’s jobless rate remains the state’s lowest. Madison’s unemployment rate for April was 7.6 percent. Other low rates were Shelby and Coffee counties at 7.7 percent each.
Data showed the state’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 11 percent for the second straight month. April’s rate represents 228,333 unemployed people.
“We’ve seen relatively little change in the rate over the past six months,” Alabama Department of Industrial Relations Director Tom Surtees said. “While I am not yet ready to call the leveling out of the unemployment rate a trend, we are certainly cautiously optimistic the rise in unemployment has ceased and we’ll eventually see a decline.
Most of the upturn came from gains in leisure and hospitality, construction and professional and business sectors.
The counties with the highest jobless rate were Wilcox at 24.5 percent, Monroe at 20 percent and Dallas at 18.7 percent.