Alabama unemployment rate falls to 4.9 percent State's workforce also grows

Brian Lyman | Montgomery Advertiser

Alabama’s unemployment rate fell to a preliminary rate of 4.9 percent in May, the lowest in the state in more than 10 years and relatively close to full employment.

Gov. Kay Ivey, who announced the rate at a press conference Friday morning, said in a statement that “I sure am proud” that the decrease took place in her first full month in office.

Most jobs created since 2005 are temporary A study conducted by Harvard and Princeton economists has some insight on why finding a consistent 9-5 job seems to be few and far between.

“We will continue to exhaust every effort and explore every opportunity until every Alabamian who wants a job, has a job,” the statement said.

The drop in unemployment has been accompanied by growth in the state’s workforce over the past year, with more than 30,000 people joining the ranks of those working or seeking jobs. At the same time, a number of sectors of the state economy – including manufacturing and construction – employ fewer people than they did before the Great Recession, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The sectors that have added jobs over the past 10 years are business and professional services; leisure and hospitality, and education and health.

Wage information was not immediately available. The median hourly wage in Alabama in May 2016 was $15.43, compared to $17.81 nationwide.

In the River Region, the Alabama Department of Labor reported the unemployment rate in Montgomery County was 4.1 percent; 3.7 percent in Autauga County and 3.4 percent in Elmore County.