Covington County’s jobless rate continues to fall.

May 2018 employment numbers released Friday by the Alabama Department of Labor showed the jobless rate for Covington County was 4.1 percent – down from April’s rate of 4.5 percent, and the May 2017 rate of 4.9 percent.

Alabama’s preliminary, seasonally adjusted May unemployment rate is 3.9 percent, an increase from April’s rate of 3.8 percent, and well below May 2017’s rate of 4.6 percent.

The employment rate was at a 10-yea high in the state with 2,042,400 people employed, Alabama Department of Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington announced. The last time it measured at or above this level was in December 2007, when it measured 2,045,800.

Over the year, wage and salary employment increased 21,600, with gains in the manufacturing sector (+4,600), the leisure and hospitality sector (+4,400), and the professional and business services sector (+4,000), among others.

Wage and salary employment increased in May by 7,000. Monthly gains were seen in the leisure and hospitality sector (+2,300), the manufacturing sector (+1,800), and the education and health services sector (+1,300), among others.

“We know that our economy is supporting record numbers of jobs, and we also know that Alabamians are working in record numbers – the most in more than 11 years,” Washington said. “Twenty-one thousand more people are working now than they were last year. That means more Alabamians are supporting their families, and spending money in their communities.”

Shelby County had the lowest unemployment rate at 2.7 percent, followed by Cullman County at 3.1 percent. The highest unemployment rates are in Wilcox County at 8.9 percent, Greene County at 7.2 percent, and Clark County at 6.9 percent.