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By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

The Alabama Department of Labor released its March unemployment information on April 19 that showed a decrease in unemployment in Chilton County. The county’s unemployment rate for March went down from February from 3.0% to 2.8%, but is almost a full percentage point higher than it was in March 2023 (1.9%). Those numbers represent 568 unemployed persons in Chilton County in March, 604 in February and 379 in March 2023.

However, while the unemployment rate in March 2023 was lower, there are more employed persons in Chilton County this March at 19,937, compared to 19,619 in March 2023. The civil labor force was also higher in March of this year at 20,505, compared to 19,998 in March 2023.

Chilton comes in just outside of some of the lowest unemployment rates in the state. Shelby County sits at 2.3% with the lowest unemployment rate in Alabama, followed by Morgan, Marshall and Cullman counties at 2.5%. Madison, Limestone, Elmore and Autauga Counties sit at a 2.6% unemployment rate. Counties with the highest unemployment rates are Wilcox County at 8.8%, Perry County at 6.0% and Greene County at 5.9%.

Alabama’s overall labor force participation rate for March stayed the same at 57.4%, but the state’s prime age workers, those aged 25-54, increased by two-tenths to 78.9% from February to March. Compared to last year, the number increased from 77.4%.

“The number of prime age people that are holding down jobs continues to increase,” Fitzgerald Washington, Alabama Department of Labor Secretary, said in a press release. “That number is very close to a full 80% of prime age individuals working. We remain hopeful that this trend will continue throughout the year, especially as the state works to raise its overall labor force participation rate.”

The number of people counted as employed increased by 21,335 people over the year to a new total of 2,260,786. The civil labor force also increased over the year with 39,897 more people joining to raise it to 2,331,680.

“Nearly 40,000 more people have entered the workforce since last year,” Washington added. “More people are employed than last year, and we have increased the number of jobs our economy is supporting. Our metrics are looking great right now.”

Alabama’s preliminary, seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in March was 3.0%, unchanged from February. It is higher than March 2023’s rate of 2.3%, and the rate represents 70,894 unemployed persons in March compared to 69,057 in February and 52,332 in March 2023.

The state’s not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in March was 3.0% as well.