By Gary Lloyd
MONTGOMERY — Gov. Robert Bentley on Friday announced Alabama’s preliminary seasonally adjusted May unemployment rate is 6.8 percent, down from April’s rate of 6.9 percent.
May’s rate represents 147,068 unemployed persons, compared to 147,229 in April and 138,432 in May 2013.
“My goal is for every Alabamian who wants a job to have the opportunity to find a job, and we are heading in the right direction,” Bentley said. “Each month since I have been governor, the number of jobs has increased when compared to the same month one year earlier, and initial unemployment claims continue to be the lowest in five years. While we still have a long way to go before Alabama is at full employment, we are making progress.”
Gov. Robert Bentley
file photo by Ron Burkett
Wage and salary employment increased in May by 4,700, rising to 1,925,000. Monthly gains were seen in the leisure and hospitality sector (+2,200), the manufacturing sector (+1,700), the professional and business services sector (+1,200), the government sector (+500), and the construction sector (+200), among others.
“We have seen increases in wage and salary employment for the past four months,” Alabama Department of Labor Commissioner Tom Surtees said. “In fact, the number of jobs supported by Alabama’s economy is at its highest point since January 2009, when the recession really began to affect Alabama’s employment picture.”
Wage and salary employment in January 2009 measured 1,905,600.
“Additionally, more than 26,000 job orders were placed on JobLink, Alabama’s free online jobs database in May – this is, by far, the most job orders ever recorded in the site’s nine-year history,” Surtees said. “This, combined with the more than 50,000 jobs announced by the Alabama Department of Commerce, show that employers are hiring in Alabama.”
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.
