North Alabama counties post state’s lowest unemployment rates

While Alabama’s unemployment rate is 3.3%, 12 North Alabama counties are lower than the state. Limestone, Madison and Morgan counties are tied for the second-lowest jobless rate in the state at 2.3%; Shelby County has the lowest at 2.2%. Other region counties’ rates are: Blount, DeKalb, Lawrence, and Marshall counties, 2.4%; Cullman and Franklin counties, 2.5%; Lauderdale County, 2.9%; and Colbert and Jackson counties, 3.2%. Alabama Department of Workforce Secretary Greg Reed said today that Alabama’s labor force participation rate for May held steady at 58%. The rate increased by six-tenths o