Chilton County’s preliminary unemployment rate for August of 6.1 percent is down 0.1 percent from July’s rate of 6.2 percent.

The county’s preliminary unemployment rate is also significantly down from one year ago, when it was was 6.7 percent.

Gov. Robert Bentley announced on Friday that Alabama’s preliminary, seasonally adjusted August unemployment rate is 6.2 percent, unchanged from July’s rate of 6.2 percent and below August 2014’s rate of 6.5 percent.

“There was very little change this month in our unemployment numbers,” Bentley said in a release. “We focus on the fact that we continue to show year-over-year growth in our wage and salary employment, meaning that the trend of slow and steady progress is continuing. This week, we celebrated the inauguration of operations for Airbus in Mobile and announced an expansion at Mercedes Benz with 300 new jobs. We are working every day to create jobs, and our efforts will continue.”

Over the year, wage and salary employment increased 23,300 with gains in the education and health services sector (7,700), the leisure and hospitality sector (4,700), and the construction sector (4,000), among others.

Wage and salary employment increased in August by 900. Monthly gains were seen in the government sector (1,600), the education and health services sector (1,000) and the leisure and hospitality sector (700), among others.

JobLink, the state’s online free jobs database (www.joblink.alabama.gov) registered 23,299 active job orders in August.

“All of the metro areas saw their unemployment rates drop or remain constant over the month, and 64 of 67 counties saw their rate either drop or remain constant in August,” Alabama Department of Labor Fitzgerald Washington said in a release. “Only one Alabama county experienced an increase in its unemployment rate over the year, which is telling us that all across the state, things are improving.”

Counties with the lowest unemployment rates are Shelby County at 4.7 percent, Lee, Elmore and St. Clair counties at 5.5 percent, and Cullman and Baldwin counties at 5.6 percent.