Number working in county dips by 25 people in January

Alabama recorded record high employment for the eighth consecutive month in January, when Department of Labor numbers show 2,123,598 people were employed, up 2,929 from December 2018.

In Covington County, employment remained steady, with only 25 fewer people working in January than December. In January, 14,605 people were employed in the county, and the jobless rate was 5.1 percent, representing 786 people. There also were 96 more people in the civilian labor force in January than in December.

“People are working in Alabama,” said Fitzgerald Washington, Secretary of the Alabama Department of Labor. “Employers are hiring in Alabama. We continue to report record numbers of people with jobs, and we are seeing fewer and fewer people counted as unemployed, which is what we like to see.

Counties with the lowest unemployment rates are: Shelby County at 3.2 percent, Marshall and Cullman Counties at 3.7 percent, and Tuscaloosa, Morgan, Madison, and Elmore Counties at 3.8 percent.  Counties with the highest unemployment rates are: Wilcox County at 10.5 percent, Lowndes County at 8.2 percent, and Clarke County at 7.9 percent.

Major cities with the lowest unemployment rates are: Homewood at 2.7 percent, Vestavia Hills at 2.9 percent, and Alabaster at 3.0 percent. 

Major cities with the highest unemployment rates are: Selma at 8.8 percent, Prichard at 7.5 percent, and Anniston at 6.1 percent.