Alabama Department of Industrial Relations Director Tom Surtees announced Friday that Alabama’s August unemployment rate fell to 9.9 percent, down from July’s rate of 10.0 percent.

In Covington County, the rate dropped to 9.7 percent, down from 10.1 percent in July.

August’s county rate represents more than 1,600 unemployed persons in the county, while statewide there were 213,412 unemployed.

Since January, more than 28,000 jobs have been added to Alabama’s economy.

Statewide, there were more than 28,000 more jobs than there were at the beginning of this year.

“We continue to see minor fluctuations in our unemployment rate, but I think the better indicator of our job market is the fact that we are consistently seeing our employment numbers rise, which is definitely a good sign,” said Surtees. “This means that more people are going to work in Alabama.