The state released preliminary, seasonally adjusted numbers Monday showing the jobless rate declined one-tenth of a percent in January from the December rate of 3.8 percent.

The rate represents a record low, but it could be adjusted later. The January number is still well below the January 2017 unemployment rate of 5.5 percent, however.

And it represents 40,000 fewer unemployed persons than were in the state a year ago. Alabama’s unemployment rate is three-tenths of a percent better than the U.S. jobless rate of 4.1 percent.

Shelby County has the state’s lowest unemployment rate at 3 percent, followed by Cullman County at 3.5 percent.

Wilcox County has the state’s worst employment picture with a jobless rate of 10.4 percent.

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(Associated Press, copyright 2018)