Alabama’s unemployment rate dropped from 5.1 percent in July to 4.9 percent in August.
Ron Macksoud, public information specialist for the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations, said Alabama was one of just five states to drop unemployment rate over the month.
“We will certainly be ahead of the national economy,” said Tom Surtees, Alabama Department of Industrial Relations director. “As the news is breaking right now on the national economy, I don’t know where it’s going right now, but Alabama has positioned itself in a very good position to serve our citizens better than most states.”
Alabama has ranked in the top 20 lowest unemployment rates in the last few years.
“We’ve been consistently among the upper third of states’ unemployment rankings in the nation,” Macksoud said.
Macksoud said Alabama was 19 in the last ranking.
Surtees said unemployment rates bottomed out around this time last year with September having the lowest rates in history.
“We’ve come up a little bit from there, but certainly doing much better than the national economy,” Surtees said.
Manufacturing and seasonal jobs in education had an effect on the drop in unemployment rates from July to August.
“What resulted in the difference between the 5.1 and the 4.9 were about 3,200 more people at work,” Surtees said.
Surtees said Alabama is ahead of the nation in employment rates and the number of jobs offered. He also said what separates Alabama is the diversified economy.
Macksoud said Alabama career centers are a big help to people seeking employment or employees.
“It is very successful right now,” said Sonny Guy of planning and evaluation at the Montgomery Career Center. “The site has over 120,000 job seekers that have made themselves available to be seen by employers.”
Guy said the career centers have a state-wide employment system online.
The site, www.joblink.alabama.gov, has automatic e-mail notifications that are sent out to employers and employees informing them of people that match their criteria.
Guy also said the site has more than 20,000 employers who have used their site with success.
“Our goal for 2007 was to have a 65 percent entered employment rate, which is a really high standard for ourselves, and we are now at a 65 percent success rate of people finding employment through our site,” Guy said. “It’s a very good site. I would recommend it to anyone.”
Macksoud said while unemployment rates are down this month, it is hard to predict what the future will look like.
“We could have a couple plants go down, but then again, there could be more jobs coming in right on the heels of that,” Macksoud said.
The rates of unemployment are unpredictable, but the work will continue to keep Alabamians employed.
“It’s people’s livelihood, it supports the state’s economy, it supports the individual economies of all the families in the state,” Surtees said.
