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By Fred Guarino

The Lowndes Signal

Much like the state of Alabama, Lowndes County’s preliminary January 2018 unemployment rate is well below the county’s revised January 2017 rate. But the county remains third highest in the state in unemployment.

According to the Alabama Department of Labor, Lowndes had a January 2018 preliminary rate of 7.5 percent, up 1 percent from a revised December 2017 rate of 6.5 percent, but 3.8 percent lower than January of 2017 resided rate of 11.3 percent.

Counties with the highest unemployment include Wilcox, first, at 10.4 percent, Clarke, second at 8.1 percent, Lowndes third at 7.5 percent, Greene, fourth at 7.0 percent, and Dallas and Perry, fifth at 6.7 percent. Lowndes was third highest in the state in unemployment in December, as well.

On a positive note, the county added about 70 new jobs with the recent opening of a Love’s Travel Stop in the county’s Hope Hull area off Interstate 65, And Daehan Solution Alabama LLC recently announced it expects to add five to 10 jobs in 2018.

Governor Kay Ivey announced on Monday, March 12 that Alabama’s preliminary, seasonally adjusted January unemployment rate is 3.7 percent, down from December 2017’s revised rate of 3.8 percent, and well below January 2017’s rate of 5.5 percent.

January’s rate represents 80,841 unemployed persons, compared to 82,378 in December and 120,788 in January 2017. 2,079,871 people were counted as employed, compared to 2,081,176 in December, and 2,057,886 in January 2017.

The previous record low unemployment rate measured 3.8 percent in December 2017, which also tied with October and November 2017 and with several months in 2007 (pre-recession in Alabama).  The preliminary rates announced for both November and December 2017 were 3.5 percent.  Following revisions, those rates are now 3.8 percent.

Each year, preliminary estimates released throughout the year by the states are revised by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in a process known as “annual processing.” Annual processing allows the BLS to align preliminary estimates with more concrete data as it becomes available at the end of the year.  That can lead to some preliminary estimates being revised, as was the case with December 2017’s unemployment rate.

“As we start a new year, we’re pleased to announce that we’re starting off with a new record low unemployment rate,” said Governor Ivey.  “Nearly 40,000 fewer people are counted as unemployed, also setting a new record low.  We have been working hard for months to bring quality, high-paying jobs to Alabama, and we’re putting our people back to work.  We will continue this work in 2018, and we hope to maintain these fantastic numbers.”

Fitzgerald Washington, secretary of the Alabama Department of Labor said, “It is not uncommon for preliminary rates to be adjusted as more precise data becomes available, especially around highly seasonal periods, such as the holidays.  Even with the adjustments, we are still in an extremely good place.  It was recently announced that our yearly average unemployment rate in 2017 dropped more than any other state in the country. Our wage and salary employment continues to show yearly increases, and all 67 counties have experienced significant yearly drops in their unemployment rates, some as high as 4.9 percentage points.”

Over the year, wage and salary employment increased 17,700, with gains in the leisure and hospitality sector (+6,000), the education and health services sector (+5,600), and the professional and business services sector (+4,800), among others.

Counties with the lowest unemployment rates are: Shelby County at 3.0 percent, Cullman County at 3.5 percent, and Marshall, Madison, Elmore, and Blount Counties at 3.6 percent.

All 67 counties experienced yearly drops in their unemployment rates, ranging from 1.2 percentage points in Autauga County to 4.9 percentage points in Wilcox County.

Major cities with the lowest unemployment rates are: Vestavia Hills at 2.5 percent, Homewood and Hoover at 2.8 percent and Alabaster and Northport at 2.9 percent.

Major cities with the highest unemployment rates are: Prichard at 7.7 percent, Selma at 7.0 percent, and Anniston at 5.8 percent.