Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Alabama Department of Labor (ADOL) release weekly unemployment numbers Thursday, which showed that more than 26,600 new unemployment claims were filed in the state last week, more than 17,800 of which were related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The most recent numbers represent a drop of more than 2,300 from the week ending May 2, when nearly 29,000 Alabamians filed for unemployment.

In Dallas County, however, unemployment claims rose last week – 320 unemployment claims were filed in the county last week compared to 295 filed during the week ending May 2, which marked a significant drop for the county, which logged more than 600 unemployment claims for the week ending April 25.

The numbers released this week don’t yet represent the expected economic rebound slated to follow the easing of restrictions kicked off by Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey’s announcement last week, which took effect Monday, May 11.

This week’s numbers show the lowest number of new unemployment claims in the state since the end of March, when nearly 81,000 Alabamians filed for unemployment.

Numbers continued to climb until reaching their zenith during the week of April 4, when more than 106,700 Alabamians filed for unemployment – a steady decline could be seen thereafter until reaching the most recent numbers.

By contrast, Dallas County’s numbers have fluctuated from week to week – like the state, Dallas County reached its highest numbers during the week ending April 4, when more than 1,000 residents filed for unemployment.

By the end of the week ending April 11, numbers had dropped down to 760, then down to 612 during the week ending April 18, only to eke back up the following week, ending April 25, to 617; the first week of May, county numbers had dropped below 300 only to inch up to 320 in the most recent report.

As far as industries are concerned, numbers are relatively the same – those in unspecified industries continue to be hardest hit, with nearly 7,800 claims filed last week, followed by the food service industry and the administrative and support services industry, both of which represented nearly 2,500 claims, the transportation equipment manufacturing sector, which logged more than 1,500 claims, and the general merchandise stores sector, which accounted for nearly 700 claims.