MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama’s unemployment rate dropped for the 15th month in a row, according to the Alabama Dept. of Labor. More than 2 million Alabamians are now working—the most since October 2008.
“Our economy supported more jobs in February than it has during the same period since 2008,” Governor Bentley said Friday morning. “We also experienced a significant increase in construction jobs, which bodes well for the state’s economic health.”
The state added 1,800 construction jobs, 2,500 jobs in the government sector, and 3,100 in the leisure and hospitality sector in February.
“Another economic indicator shows continued improvement: the number of initial unemployment compensation claims filed in February is the lowest it’s been in 40 years. This tells us that employers are laying off fewer workers than they have in decades,” Alabama Labor Commissioner Fitzgerald Washington said. “The bottom line is that nearly all of our economic indicators are trending in the right direction, and are finally either nearing or surpassing 2008 levels – when the recession truly began to hit Alabama.”
February’s employment numbers show the Governor, who promised not to collect a pay check until the state reached “full employment”—around 5.5 percent unemployment—is inching closer to getting paid for the first time since taking office in 2010.
The lowest unemployment rates were found in Shelby County (4.0%), Lee County (4.7%), and Tuscaloosa County (4.8%).
Check out the unemployment rate in your county on the map below.
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— Elizabeth BeShears (@LizEBeesh) January 21, 2015
