Unemployment rate scraping rock bottom

By Scott Johnson
General Manager

Unemployment rolls have dropped below 3% in Marion County.
According to the July unemployment report published by the Alabama Department of Labor on Friday, Aug. 20, Marion County recorded an unemployment rate of 2.8% in July, which is down from June’s rate of 3.1% and significantly less than the pandemic unemployment in July 2020 of 6.6%.
Franklin County reported an unemployment rate of 2.7%; Fayette County - 2.9%; Lamar - 3.1%; Walker  County - 3.5% and Winston County - 2.5%.
In Marion County, those listed as unemployed decreased from 408 to 368 in July for Marion County; employment grew from 12,806 to 12,870 and the civilian workforce expanded from 13,214 in June to 12,238 in July.
Statewide the July 2021 unemployment rate was set at 3.2%, down from June’s rate of 3.3% and well below July 2020’s rate of 7.4%.
The national unemployment rate  for July 2021 was 5.4%, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
“Each month we edge closer and closer to our pre-pandemic unemployment rate,” said Gov. Kay Ivey. “Employers have added over 73,000 jobs in the past year, and nearly 83,000 more people are working today than they were last year. Industries that were hit the hardest are seeing employment numbers increase monthly. We’ll keep working as hard as we can to continue this remarkable progress.”