Auburn saw its unemployment rate increase during the month of January, marking another month of unemployment rate increases.
According to new unemployment statistics released by the Alabama Department of Labor, the unemployment rate for the Auburn-Opelika metropolitan area increased to 5.3 percent — up 0.3 percentage points from December's rate of 5 percent.
Most other major metropolitan areas in Alabama also saw their unemployment rates increase last month. However, Auburn-Opelika once again maintained the lowest unemployment rate for any of Alabama's 12 major metropolitan statistical areas.
Since October 2015, Auburn-Opelika has seen its unemployment rate increase by 0.6 percentage points, from 4.7 percent in October to 5.3 percent in January.
According to the report, the January unemployment rate for the state of Alabama decreased by .1 percentage points to 6.2 percent after the department revised the December unemployment rate from 6.2 percent up to 6.3 percent.
The total number of unemployed workers actively looking for employment in the state increased from 134,403 to 134,408. However, the total number of employed workers also increased to 2,019,653 from December's report of 2,011,475.
“January’s rate contains some interesting and positive data,” said Alabama Department of Labor Commissioner Fitzgerald Washington. “There is almost no change in the rate, mainly due to the fact that there were more people in the labor force and more people were employed. These are both good signs, because it means that people are continuing to display confidence in the economy and that they are able to find work. In fact, the number of people counted as employed in January is higher than it has been since October 2008.”
Civilian labor force participation, one of the most closely watched statistics, increased from 2,145,878 active workers to 2,154,061.
"The Civilian Labor Force [CLF] increased in January by 8,183 to 2,154,061," reported the press release from the governor's office. "The number of persons employed increased in January by 8,178 to 2,019,653. The last time this number was at or above this number was in October 2008, when it was 2,021,511."
February unemployment statistics for the United States were released March 4 at 8 a.m. According to the report, the unemployment rate in the United States remained steady at 4.9 percent after dropping from 5 percent in November and December to 4.9 percent in January.
Average hourly earnings for private sector employees dropped slightly in February from $25.39 to $25.35. According to the report, hourly earnings have increased 2.2 percent over the last year.
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