County jobless rate drops

By Stephanie Nelson (Contact) | Andalusia Star-News

Published Saturday, November 21, 2009

For the first time in months, Covington County’s unemployment rate has halted its steady climb upward – falling 0.5 percent from September to October.

Figures released Friday by the Department of Industrial Relations show 1,546 people in Covington County filed unemployment claims, dropping the unemployment rate from September’s 10.3 percent to 9.8 percent for October.

It’s still a large difference from this time last year when the county saw only 6 percent unemployment; however, Covington County’s economic outlook is much better that not only the state as a whole, but also several of its neighboring counties.

Covington fell in the mid-range of surrounding counties with Coffee at 8.3 percent; Geneva at 10.5 percent; Crenshaw at 10.5 percent; Escambia at 12.7 percent; Butler at 17 percent and Conecuh at 20.5 percent.

In a ranking from the highest unemployment rate (Wilcox County at 25.1 percent) to the lowest (Shelby County at 7.4 percent), Covington ranked 50th in the state.

Alabama’s unemployment rate for October rose two-tenths of a percent from 10.7 in September to 10.9 percent in October.

The figure represents 226,790 unemployed persons and an increase of 3,800 in wage and salary employment.

“While we did experience a slight increase in the unemployment rate, I am proud to announce that Alabama is already paying federal extension benefits to those claimants who qualify,” said ADIR director Tom Surtees. “This extension was only signed into law on November 6, so that represents a less than two week turn-around time on distributing these much needed dollars.”

The Department of Industrial Relations has determined that, to date, approximately 12,000 Alabamians are eligible for this most recent federal extension of benefits. This week, DIR asked claimants whose benefits exhausted on or before Nov. 14 to begin certifying for the extended benefits. Claimants can certify online at www.dir.alabama.gov.