While the latest unemployment figures are bad news for most of the state of Alabama, Dallas County has something to celebrate.

The latest unemployment figures indicate Alabama’s jobless claims have risen from 5.6 percent in February to 5.9 percent in March, and even worse, the latest figure is higher than the figures from March of 2003, when unemployment was at 5.7 percent.

The numbers in Dallas County, however, are on a definite downturn, with the rate falling from February’s 10.7 percent mark to 10.6 percent in March. Even better, the numbers are more than a percentage point down from March 2003’s jobless rate of 12 percent.

Dallas County, despite seeing an increase in the overall labor force from February to March, has managed to decrease unemployment, at a time when

the state, and the rest of the country, is watching jobless rates rise.

For Alabama, a glimmer of hope is on the horizon. While the South reported an overall loss of manufacturing jobs, recent months have seen an increase in the jobs available, mostly in the service industry sector of employment.

The South has hemorrhaged manufacturing jobs since Bush took office in January 2001, shedding more than 641,000 positions during the period &045; 155,000 in North Carolina alone.

Yet despite all that, total non-farm employment in the region grew slightly &045; less than 1 percent &045; during the period, while the nation lost a net of nearly 2 million jobs, or about 1.5 percent. Economist James F. Smith says the kinds of jobs that are leaving North Carolina and the South aren’t the ones we need to keep, anyway.

For Dallas County, it looks like that may be true.

For unemployment claims to fall by one percent in Dallas County, roughly 200 people have to get hired. That means since March of 2003, approximately 300 people have been hired for various work in the County.

The rest of the country, however, is not doing as well.

While recent numbers show unemployment claims falling in mid-April by 9,000, the decrease followed one of the largest increases since 2002, in early-April.

According to the U.S. Labor Department, claims rose by 30,000, to a seasonally adjusted level of 360,000 nationwide.

The four-week moving average for new claims, however, viewed as a better gauge of trends because it smooths out some of the volatility, was up by a smaller 6,750 to 344,250, the highest level since early March.