Dallas County’s unemployment rate dropped slightly from September to October, while the state’s unemployment rate increased.

Dallas County’s October unemployment rate is 9.2 percent, which is down from 9.3 percent. The decrease is not much, but it continues a trend.

The state’s unemployment rate for October is 5.7 percent, which is up from 5.4 percent.

“An extremely large increase in the number of people who are looking for work combined with an increase in the number of people working in October led to an increase in our unemployment rate,” said Alabama Department of Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington.

“More than 16,000 people entered the workforce in October, and nearly 10,000 more people found work.”

The state’s October rate last year was 6.1 percent, and Dallas County’s rate was 8.8 percent.

“Compared to last year, nearly 40,000 more people are in the work force and almost 50,000 more people are working,” Fitzgerald said. “This shows a marked increase in the confidence of jobseekers.”

Dallas County currently has the sixth highest unemployment rate in the state, with Wilcox, Perry, Lowndes, Greene and Perry counties coming in ahead.

The number of people employed in Dallas County increased from 14,265 in September to 14,333 in October. The number of people unemployed fell slightly from 1,464 to 1,457. Last year 1,355 people were unemployed in Dallas County.

Dallas County’s civilian labor force increased from 15,729 to 15,790.

Surrounding counties with higher unemployment rates are Lowndes County with a 10.4 percent unemployment rate, Perry County with a 10.1 percent unemployment rate and Wilcox County with a 13.8 percent unemployment rate.

Dallas County is one of 16 counties across the state with an unemployment rate of 7.5 percent or above.

Statewide there are 123,892 people that are unemployed, which is up significantly from September, which had 117,100 unemployed.

The national unemployment rate is 4.7 percent for October, which is down from last year’s October rate of 4.8 percent.