Escambia County’s October unemployment rate is 0.9 percent higher than the state’s rate of 5.7 percent, according to the Alabama Department of Labor (ADOL).

The county’s unemployment rate is 6.6 percent, up from September’s rate of 6.4 percent.

The state’s rate is a seasonally adjusted rate, which is an increase from September’s 5.4 percent.

October’s rate represents 123,892 unemployed persons, compared to 117,100 in September, and 131,421 in October of last year, according to the ADOL.

“An extremely large increase in the number of people who are looking for work combined with an increase in the number of people working in October led to an increase in our unemployment rate,” ADOL Secretary Fitzgerald Washington said.