Steady as she goes: Alabama jobless rate stays at record low 2.7%

Published 9:35 am Monday, March 16, 2020

Alabama’s unemployment rate remains at a record low 2.7%, officials said Monday.

A news release issued by the state said the seasonally adjusted jobless rate for January was unchanged from December. It was below the national rate and more than 1 percentage point better than the state rate from a year earlier.

The rate represents nearly 2.2 million people who are working at about 61,000 who aren’t. Average weekly earnings increased $41.74 to $872.01 from a year ago.

Among individual business sectors, building construction employment increased 12.6% over the last year and vehicle manufacturing rose about 5.8%.

Shelby County in metro Birmingham has the state’s lowest unemployment rate at 2.4%, while Wilcox County in rural west Alabama is highest at 9%.