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By Staff Reports
The Selma Times-Journal

Alabama Department of Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington announced Friday that Alabama’s labor force participation rate for July held steady at 57.5% while Selma’s unemployment rate remained virtually unchanged.

Major cities with the lowest unemployment rates are: Vestavia Hills at 2.2%, Trussville and Hoover at 2.3%, and Alabaster, Homewood, and Madison at 2.4%.  Major cities with the highest unemployment rates are: Selma at 7.4%, Prichard at 5.7%, and Bessemer at 4.4%.

Counties with the lowest unemployment rates are:  Shelby and Morgan Counties at 2.5%, Marshall and Cullman Counties at 2.6%, and St. Clair, Madison, Limestone, and Elmore Counties at 2.7%.  Counties with the highest unemployment rates are: Wilcox County at 8.8%, Perry County at 7.0%, and Dallas County at 6.2%.

Selma and Dallas County’s jobless rates are virtually unchanged from last month.

The percentage of prime-age workers increased by one-tenth of a percentage point to 79.3% over the month. Over the year, this number increased by one and a half percentage points from 77.8%. Prime-age workers are those aged 25-54 years.

“While we all are working to increase our labor force participation rate, the continued growth, especially year over year, in the number of prime age Alabamians who are holding down a job, remains a positive trend in the state’s economy.” said Washington. “All other economic indicators showed improvement this month as well.”

Alabama’s preliminary, seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is 2.8%, down from June 2024’s rate of 2.9%. July’s rate is higher than July 2023’s rate of 2.4%.  The rate represents 66,591 unemployed persons, compared to 67,782 in June and 55,583 in July 2023.

The number of people counted as employed increased by 20,156 over the year to a new record high count of 2,273,759. The civilian labor force also increased to a new record high of 2,340,350, with 31,164 more people joining over the year.

Over the year, wage and salary employment grew by 52,500 to 2,211,700, with gains in the private education and health services sector (+13,500), the leisure and hospitality sector (+9,400), and the trade, transportation, and utilities sector (+9,000), among others.

“The labor force continues to increase – by more than 30,000 people in the last year – and those people are getting jobs,” continued Washington. “Our economy added more than 52,000 jobs in the past year, which is great news for Alabama.”