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By JOYANNA LOVE | Managing Editor

Chilton County saw a decrease in the unemployment rate, and an increase in the overall workforce during July.

Employment statistics released by the governor’s office this month show that Chilton County’s unemployment rate decreased slightly to 2.6% in July from 2.8% in June. The civilian labor force (those employed or actively seeking employment) saw an increase again this month as it rose to 20,737 from 20,556 in June.

Commenting on the June civilian workforce numbers, Tara Hutchison, communications director for the Alabama Department of Labor, said “you see a lot of high school graduates who are coming out entering the job market and college graduates coming out entering the job market, those are going to create sort of a spike.”

July’s employment numbers also set a new high for employed residents for the county for the year. There were 20,201 people employed in the county in July.

At the state level, unemployment was also 2.6%, and the state also had a record number of people employed at 2,232,543.

According to job listings from local nonprofit Kelsey’s Place, banks, stores, an HVAC service company and restaurants in Chilton County were looking for employees in July.

Resources for those looking for a job continue to be available through the Chilton County Career Center inside the Chilton County DHR building at 324 Health Center Drive on the first and third Thursday of each month from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Kelsey’s Place is holding a job fair on Aug. 27 at 950 Lumac in Clanton from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Elwood Staffing, KMA, O-Flex, Oxford Home Healthcare and Cahaba Maintenance and Construction in Calera will be onsite looking to hire.