By By Thomas Tingle
Record Managing Editor
The area's jobless rate continues to be among the state's lowest, according to figures released last week by the State of Alabama Department of Industrial Relations.
Madison County ranked 7 at 3.5 percent of the top 10 Alabama counties with the lowest unemployment rate during the month of May.
Unemployment figures released by the department shows Madison County remained steady in its unemployment rate from the previous month of April.
The Alabama unemployment rate for the month of May 2002 was 5.7 percent, up by .1 percent from April 2002 and up by .7 percent from the same month in 2001. The state's unemployment rate is .1 percent lower than the nation's unemployment rate of 5.8 percent. The nation's unemployment rate is down by .2 percent from April 2002 but up by 1.4 percent from the same month in 2001. May's rate for Alabama represents 122,600 unemployed persons, compared to 121,000 in April 2002 and 107,500 in May 2001.
The top 10 Alabama counties with the lowest unemployment rate for the month of May were Shelby, 2.5 percent; Tuscaloosa, 3.3 percent; Elmore, 3.3 percent; Lee, 3.3 percent; Cherokee, 3.4 percent; Autauga, 3.4 percent; Madison, 3.5 percent; Coffee, 3.8 percent; Houston, 3.8 percent; Baldwin, 3.8 percent.
Washington, Wilcox, Franklin, Perry, Dallas, Bibb, Lowndes, Lauderdale, Fayette and Choctaw were the top 10 Alabama counties with the highest unemployment rate for the month of May.