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By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

The Alabama Department of Labor released its August 2023 unemployment information in a press release on Sept. 15 with encouraging signs of stability. Chilton County’s unemployment rate of 2.2% in July held steady there in August. The civilian labor force in the county dipped slightly from 20,355 in July to 20,271 in August, and the number of unemployed persons in the county rose by 10 to 450.

However, Chilton County still sits among the counties with the lowest unemployment rates in the state. Nearby Shelby County holds the lowest rate in the state at 1.8%, followed by Morgan Marshall, Madison and Cullman Counties at 2.0%. Four counties are at 2.1%, and five counties share a 2.2% rate with Chilton County.

Wilcox County has the highest unemployment rate at 7.3%, up from 6.8% in July. Nearby Selma also holds the highest unemployment rate among major cities in the state at 6.5%.

“Yet again, we are announcing record breaking economic statistics this month,” Fitzgerald Washington, Alabama Department of Labor Secretary, said in a press release. “While our labor force participation rate remained unchanged, we are continuing to work with marginalized groups to get them into our labor force.”

The state of Alabama’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood steady at 2.1%, a record low for the state that was first set in July 2023. The rate is well below August 2022’s unemployment rate of 2.6%. The 2.1% unemployment rate represents 48,695 unemployed persons in the state, a new record low. The number of people counted as employed increased to a new record high as well to 2,259,025.