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Weekly numbers released by the Alabama Department of Labor (ADOL) Thursday show a continued decline in new unemployment claims being filed locally and across the state.

According to the most recent numbers, 228 new unemployment claims were filed from Dallas County last week, down slightly from the 232 that filed claims during the last week of May, which saw a decrease of more than 100 over the week ending May 23, when nearly 330 unemployment claims were filed in the county.

Dallas County’s continued-yet-modest descent reflects a statewide trend, which saw new unemployment claims decrease by more than 800 – last week, 19,950 new claims were filed statewide compared to more than 20,780 the week before.

Across the region, however, results are mixed, as some counties saw slight increases in the number of new claims being filed.

Neighboring Autauga County saw its weekly numbers increase from 195 during the week ending May 30 to 211 during the first week of June.

Lowndes County likewise saw an increase in the number of new claims being filed, with 60 news claims filed last week compared to 50 the week before, as did Marengo County, which saw a small increase in weekly numbers from 73 during the last week of May to 77 the first week of June.

Perry County, however, saw its number decrease from 62 during the week of May 30 to 50 during the week ending June 6, while Wilcox County saw the region’s largest increase, jumping from 73 claims filed at the end of May to 110 during the first week of June.

Across the state, more than 12,300 of the claims filed last week were related to the COVID-19 pandemic and more than 6,400 were filed from unclassified industries.

Beyond that, the administrative and support services industry continues to be the hardest hit, with more than 2,000 claims filed last week, followed by the food service and drinking places sector, which logged more than 1,600 claims last week, the transportation equipment manufacturing industry, which saw more than 850 claims filed last week, and the general merchandise stores and education services sectors, which both saw less than 600 claims filed last week.