Unemployment falls to 8.8 percent
Morgan County’s unemployment rate has fallen to 8.8 percent, it’s lowest level in a couple of years.
The preliminary jobless rate for March shows that 4,939 county residents were unemployed, which is 303 fewer than in February and 858 less than March 2010. The number of employed person also increased by 809 to 51,047 last month.
The jobless rate also fell as the civilian work force grew by 506 persons.
The Decatur metropolitan area also saw its unemployment rate drop from 9.7 percent in February to 9.1 percent in March. The unemployment rate at this time last year was 10.8 percent.
Huntsville’s metro area also dropped 0.4 percent to 7.9 percent.
Statewide, Alabama’s jobless rate fell a tenth of a percent to 9.2 percent over the last month and is much better than March 2010, when the unemployment rate was at 10 percent.
“A decrease in the unemployment rate is always better than an increase,” said Tom Surtees, director of the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations. “However, we can’t get too excited because there are still nearly 200,000 Alabamians out of work. Another positive is that we are beginning to see some stabilization in unemployment compensation trends that are beginning to show a return to some sense of normalcy.”
The counties with the lowest unemployment rates in March were: Shelby at 6.7 percent, Coffee at 6.9 percent, and Madison and Pike Counties at 7.5 percent. The counties with the highest unemployment rates were: Wilcox at 20.0 percent, Monroe at 16.0 percent, and Perry at 15.8 percent.
