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By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

Chilton County’s unemployment rate jumped over 2% to 2.1% after the month of November statistics were released by the Alabama Department of Labor. The rate jumped to 2.1% from 1.9% in October, and is also higher than the 2.0% rate in Nov. 2022.

Those rates in Chilton County represent 445 unemployed persons in November, compared to 394 in October and 402 in November 2022. While the unemployment rate increased, the number of persons employed and the civilian labor force did as well in Chilton County from October to November. 20,306 employed persons in November compared to 20,237 in October, and 20,751 civilian labor force in November to 20,631 in October.

Shelby County leads the state with the lowest unemployment rate at 1.8%, followed by Morgan County at 1.9% and Marshall and Bullock counties at 2.0%. Wilcox County has the state’s highest unemployment rate at 8.0%, then Dallas County at 5.4% and Perry County at 5.0%.

“This job growth continues improving, and we know that Alabama’s employers are continuing to add jobs each and every month,” Fitzgerald Washington, Alabama Department of Labor Secretary, said in a press release. “We also saw modest over the year wage growth, and two large employment sectors saw their highest ever wages in November.”

The State of Alabama’s preliminary seasonally adjusted November unemployment rate rose to 2.4%, up from 2.3% in October. However, the rate is below last year’s November rate of 2.6%. The November rate represents 55,475 unemployed persons, compared to 52,182 in October and 60,169 in November 2022.

Alabama’s non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is 2.5%, and the state’s labor force participation rate for November increased to 57.1%.

“Our labor force participation rate increased this month slightly, but over the year, we saw a bit more growth, with the rate increasing by nearly half of a percentage point. The prime-age worker labor force participation rate also showed modest improvement, increasing by three-tenths of a percentage point over the month. This means that three out of every four prime-age Alabamians are holding down a job, and that number is steadily increasing, month over month,” said Washington. “Additionally, we saw significant growth in the number of jobs our economy is supporting, reaching a new record high and adding nearly 38,000 new jobs over the year.”

The number of people counted as employed in Alabama increased by 40,100 over 2023 to a record high of 2,263,270. The civilian labor force increased to a new record high of 2,318,745 as well with 35,406 more people joining in 2023.