MONTGOMERY – Alabama Department of Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington announced today that Alabama’s April labor force participation rate increased by one-tenth of a percentage point to 57.5 %.
Meanwhile, four north Alabama counties posted some of the state’s lowest unemployment rates, improving from March’s reports. Morgan County is second in the state at 2.1%, down from 2.5% in March; and Cullman, Madison and Marshall counties follow at 2.2%. Madison County is down from 2.6% in March while Cullman and Marshall counties show an improvement from 2.5%.
The percentage of prime-age workers increased by two-tenths of a percentage point over the month to 79.1%, Labor Department said in a news release today. Over the year, this number increased by 1.7 percentage points from 77.4%. Prime-age workers are those aged 25-54 years.
“This continued growth in our prime age labor force participation rate is truly encouraging,” said Washington. “The over the year growth is showing that our prime age workers are indeed rejoining the labor force and making an impact. Additionally, our total labor force has increased to its highest level, with more than 40,000 people deciding that they want a job since the same time last year.”
Alabama’s preliminary, seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is 3.1%, up from March 2024’s rate of 3.0%, and up from April 2023’s rate of 2.3%. The rate represents 72,057 unemployed persons, compared to 70,884 in March and 52,004 in April 2023.
The number of people counted as employed increased by 20,117 over the year to a new record high of 2,263,393. The civilian labor force also reached a new record high, increasing to 2,335,450, with 40,170 more people joining over the year.
Over the year, wage and salary employment increased by 49,700 to 2,203,800. This represents a new record high for Alabama’s jobs count, with gains in the private education and health services sector (+13,700), the government sector (+9,400), and the manufacturing sector (+7,500), among others.
“Alabama’s employers are creating jobs,” said Washington. “Our economy is supporting more jobs than ever before. We are all working together to ensure that we have the workforce to fill them.”
Counties with the lowest unemployment rates are: Shelby County at 2%, Morgan County at 2.1%, and Cullman, Elmore, Madison, and Marshall counties at 2.2%. Counties with the highest unemployment rates are: Wilcox County at 7.7%, Perry County at 5.3%, and Dallas County at 5.0%.
Major cities with the lowest unemployment rates are: Homewood at 1.8%, Alabaster, Madison, Trussville, and Vestavia Hills at 1.9%, and Hoover at 2%. Major cities with the highest unemployment rates are: Selma at 5.7%, Prichard at 4.9%, and Gadsden and Mobile at 3.7%.
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