MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) -
Tom Surtees, of the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations, has announced that Alabama's unemployment rate for Augusts is up to 8.5%. This represents a slight rise from July's rate of 8.3%. However, it is down from last year's rate of 9.1%
August's 8.5% unemployment rate represents 183,315 unemployed persons, compared to 179,189 in July and 198,444 in August 2011.
"While the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased over the previous month, we saw fewer unemployment compensation claims filed during the same time period and continued to see record numbers of job openings posted on Joblink," Surtees explains. "Also, 63 of 67 counties saw their unemployment rates drop or remain the same this month. These are some positive signs in spite of the increase in the seasonally adjusted rate."
Counties with the lowest unemployment rates are: Shelby County at 5.8%, Coffee County at 7.1% and Blount, Limestone, and Madison Counties at 7.2%.
Counties with the highest unemployment rates are: Wilcox County at 19.2%, Bullock County at 17.1%, and Dallas County at 16.6%.
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