Pike County's unemployment rate for July | News

Alabama Department of Industrial Relations Director Tom Surtees announced today that Alabama's preliminary July unemployment rate is 8.3%, which is up from June's rate of 7.8%.  However, it is still below last year's rate of 9.2%.

The unemployment rate is up, in part, due to a higher number of partial unemployment claims.  Those are claims that are filed by workers who have been laid off for a specified time of less than three weeks.  The number of partial claims in July was 9.259, up significantly from 2,570 in May and 3,181 June.

According to Surtees, "we see more partial claims in July and December than any other month.  Last month was no exception."

Alabama's total workforce increased by over 5000 people in July.  The state's civilian labor workforce totaled 2,157,890 in July compared to 2,152,849 in June.

Counties with the lowest unemployment rates are: Shelby County at 6.0%, Blount County at 7.4%, and Coffee County at 7.5%.

Counties with the highest unemployment rates are: Wilcox County at 19.6%, Dallas County at 17,8%, and Lowndes County at 16.7%.

In Pike County, the unemployment rate for July was 8.4%, down from 8.6% in June, but up from 8.0% a year ago.