State, local jobless rates fall
Saturday, May 17, 2008
From staff reports
Huntsville Times Alabama's at 4%;county rolls dropfrom 3% to 2.5%
Alabama's unemployment rate declined slightly in April to 4 percent, while Madison County's jobless rolls dropped a half percentage point, ranking second lowest in the state.
Madison County's unemployment rate fell to 2.5 percent in April, according to the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations, down from 3 percent in March.
The state's 4 percent unemployment rate was down from 4.1 percent in March, but well above the 3.4 percent rate in April 2007.
Alabama's unemployment rate remains lower than the 5 percent U.S. figure. Nationally, the jobless rate in April was down from 5.1 percent in March. In April 2007, the U.S. unemployment rate was 4.5 percent.
Shelby County's 2.3 percent marked the lowest figure in the state, just ahead of Madison County. Limestone, Baldwin and Tuscaloosa counties tied for the third lowest rate at 2.7 percent.
Chambers County, located on the Georgia border, had the highest unemployment rate, at 10.7 percent, while Wilcox County's 9.5 percent was second highest.
The Madison County metro area, which includes Limestone County, again had the lowest unemployment rate by area, at 2.5 percent. The Tuscaloosa metro area was second at 3 percent. The Decatur metro area, which also includes Lawrence County was at 3.4 percent, down from 3.9 percent in March.
