Staff reports

Alabama has its lowest unemployment rate ever, Gov. Kay Ivey announced Friday.

Alabama’s preliminary, seasonally adjusted September unemployment rate is 3.8 percent, down from August’s rate of 4.2 percent, and well below September 2016’s rate of 6 percent.

The last time Alabama’s unemployment rate was this low was in April 2007, the lowest rate in recorded history.

"We’ve been working extremely hard over the past six months to bring Alabama’s unemployment rate down, and today’s news shows that our efforts are paying off,” Gov. Ivey said in a news release. "This is truly an historic day … When it comes to job creation, we are doing the right thing and momentum is on our side in Alabama. But, we won't let up and we will continue recruiting new businesses and encouraging existing firms to expand. We can’t and won’t slow down just because we’ve reached this milestone.”

Montgomery County’s unemployment rate is 3.4 percent, down from 4.2 percent in August and 6.1 percent in September 2016. Autauga County has 3 percent unemployment, down 1.5 percent year over year and 1 percent since August. Elmore County has one of the lowest rates in the state at 2.9 percent.

The national unemployment rate is 4.2 percent, four-tenths higher than Alabama.

Some 2,068,594 people were counted as employed in September, compared to 2,057,360 in August, and 2,045,762 in September 2016. September’s rate represents 82,678 unemployed persons, compared to 90,756 in August and 131,201 in September 2016.

“We remain hopeful that this wonderful progress continues throughout the rest of the year,” said Alabama Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington.

All 67 counties experienced drops in their unemployment rates over the year and over the month, and for the first time in a decade, no county has a rate in the double digits, Washington said.

Counties with the lowest unemployment rates are: Shelby County at 2.4 percent, Marshall and Cullman Counties at 2.8 percent, and Madison and Lee at 2.9 percent. Counties with the highest unemployment rates are: Wilcox County at 8.9 percent, Clarke County at 6.7 percent and Dallas County at 6.3 percent.

Selma's unemployment rate is the highest city rate in the state at 7 percent, twice the rate of the city of Montgomery.