By Staff
Special to the Advance
Escambia County's unemployment rate matched the state's in May, at 3.6 percent.
"Alabama continues to be one of the nation's leaders in job creation," Gov. Bob Riley said. "Our unemployment rate remains at historically low levels, and we saw employment grow by another 3,300 jobs over the past month. During the past 12 months the economy has added almost 36,000 new jobs in Alabama."
Alabama posted a record 3.3 percent jobless rate in March.
Escambia County's unemployment rate was 3.7 percent a month ago and 4.3 percent in May 2005.
Nationally, only 11 states recorded lower unemployment rates than Alabama in May. The national unemployment rate in May was 4.6 percent.
A year ago, the state's unemployment rate was 4.0 percent.
Wage and salary employment in Alabama totaled 1,984,300 in May. May's rate represented 78,218 unemployed, compared to 78,505 a month earlier in April and 86,021 unemployed a year ago in May 2005.
Surrounding counties had a wider range of unemployment rates. Conecuh County was at 4.2 percent, while Monroe County was at 4.3 percent. Covington County had 2.9 percent unemployment, and Baldwin County was among the lowest in the state with 2.2 percent.
At 2.0 percent, Shelby County had the state's lowest unemployment rate in May. Wilcox County recorded the state's highest unemployment rate – 6.6 percent.