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The staggering impact of COVID-19 on employment reached a new peak last week, when it was revealed that more than 22 million Americans have filed for unemployment since President Donald Trump declared a national emergency due to the virus on March 13.

The Alabama Department of Labor released data for the month of March on Friday, April 17.

The seasonally adjusted March unemployment rate was 3.5 percent, “up from February’s record low level of 2.7 percent, and above March 2019’s rate of 3.3 percent,” according to the report.

This rate represents 2,138,541 unemployed persons.

Crenshaw County had a 3.4 percent unemployment rate for March, or 211 people.

Butler County had a 4.4 percent unemployment rate in March, or 405 people.

Lowndes County had a 5.7 percent unemployment rate for March, or 200 people.

ADOL also released more data pertaining to unemployment benefit distribution on Monday.

According to the department’s report, $372,344,837 has been paid to 178,761 claimants over the period covering March 16 – April 24, 2020.

This represents 511,594 weeks paid.

Furthermore, the report states that ADOL has made payments to 64% of those who filed for COVID-19 related unemployment benefits since March 16.

Additionally, $132,328,900 of the $164,523,955 was taken from Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), “the $600 stimulus benefit added to weekly unemployment compensation benefits.”

ADOL also recently released a tracker to help claimants keep tabs on their unemployment claim, available at https://uiclaimstracker.labor.alabama.gov/ 

Lastly, ADOL also issued a release that functions as an overview of the current labor market and lists the most in-demand occupations by compiling online job postings from the month of March.

According to the release, registered nurses were by far the most in demand workers. The study found 3,425 postings for that position.

Retail salesperson job posting came next, numbering at 1,986, while sales reps, wholesale and manufacturing came in third with 1,589.

UAB Medicine had the most individual job postings with 872, followed by Lowe’s Companies, INC, with 495, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham with 466.

The data is compiled from all online job postings in the state, including those posted on the state’s free online jobs database, joblink.alabama.gov, and other sources; such as traditional job boards, corporate boards, and social media sites.