By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
On Friday, Alabama Governor Robert Bentley (R) announced that Alabama’s preliminary, seasonally-adjusted July unemployment rate is down to 6.3%. That is a drop from the June unemployment rate of 6.5% and is well below the July 2012 rate of 7.6%.
According to the Governor’s statement the July 2013’s rate represents 135,089 unemployed persons which is down from 140,024 in the previous month and down from 163,932 in July of 2012. This is the lowest Alabama unemployment rate since October 2008 when the rate was 5.9%.
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley said in a prepared statement, “While we are encouraged to see another drop in our unemployment rate, we need to remember there is still a lot of work to be done. We will continue to recruit more jobs. We will continue to show how Alabama is a great place to do business. We will encourage more companies to build here and expand and hire more people. And we will continue these efforts until everyone who wants a job is able to find one.”
The Speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives Mike Hubbard (R) from Auburn said on Facebook, “We continue to prove that Alabama is one of the most business-friendly states in the nation with yet another month of decline in the unemployment rate. Our focus on pro-business, pro-private sector policies that reduce the burdensome red tape and encourage businesses to grow and expand are working and we will continue to work hard to recruit more industries and create more jobs in our great state.”
Alabama State Senator Tom Whatley (R) from Lee County said on Facebook, “Unemployment has fallen a full percent over the last year. What we are doing is working! Supporting a pro-business environment creates jobs!”
In more good economic news on Monday the Auburn Opelika News reported that Pharmalite announced that they were increasing their investment in Opelika by $16.6 million and were hiring another 17 employees. This will raise their total investment in Lee County to $89.6 million and $262 million. Speaker Hubbard said,
“This is great news for Lee County! Pharmavite is liking what they see in Opelika and today announced an additional investment and more new jobs. We have a great group of local, county, and state officials working hard to recruit new businesses, expand existing companies, and create new jobs for Lee County and I’m confident that announcements like this one will continue for our area.”
There are over 15,000 available job openings posted on JobLink. The most in demand jobs today in Alabama are for truck drivers with 2,852 ads and registered nurses with 2,277 ads. The counties with the lowest unemployment rates in July are: Shelby County at 4.2%, Baldwin County at 5.3% and Cullman County at 5.4%. Counties with the worst unemployment rates continue to be in the Black Belt with: Wilcox County at 16.3%, Perry County at 14.7% and Dallas County at 14.4%
