Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

The Alabama Department of Labor released its September unemployment data, and it showed a decrease in the rate in Chilton County.

Chilton County’s unemployment rate fell to 2.7% in September from 3.1% in August, but is still higher than the 2.3% rate in September 2023. Those numbers represent 554 unemployed persons in September in the county, 650 in August and 475 in September 2023. As the unemployment rate decreased, the number of employed persons in the county went up from 20,017 in August to 20,072 in September. While the unemployment rate in September of last year was lower, there are more employed persons in Chilton County this September than last September’s number of 19,929.

Chiton County sits just outside the top three groups of counties with the lowest unemployment rates in the state. Shelby County has the lowest at 2.3%, followed by Madison, Marshall and Morgan Counties at 2.5%, and Cherokee, Cleburne, Cullman, Limestone and St. Clair Counties at 2.6%.

The State of Alabama’s labor force participation rate held steady again at 57.5% while the percentage of prime-age workers (those aged 25-54 years old) decreased by one-tenth of a point to 79.3%. In 2024, that number has increased from 78% since the beginning of the year.

“Month after month, we are continuing to see yearly growth in the number of prime age workers who are participating in the labor force,” Marty Redden, Alabama Department of Labor Secretary, said. “Nearly 80% of these people are working or looking for work. They are a vital part of building Alabama’s workforce. We’re also seeing major growth in the total number of people joining the workforce and finding employment.”

The state’s preliminary, seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose one-tenth of a percentage point to 2.9% in September from 2.8% in August, and it is just above September 2023’s rate of 2.7%. These rates represent 67,405 unemployed persons in the state in September, 66,621 in August and 61,658 in September 2023.