Madison County’s unemployment rate of 7 percent ranks among the three lowest in the state, according to Alabama Department of Industrial Relations Director Tom Surtees.

Surtees announced today that Alabama’s December 2010 unemployment rate is 9.1 percent, a slight increase from November’s rate of 9 percent

The rate is significantly lower than the year-ago rate of 10.9 percent.

December’s rate represents 194,686 unemployed persons, compared to 192,335 in November and 224,175 in December 2009.

“Although we did see a small increase in our unemployment rate, we still remain below the national rate, and Alabama did see a net increase in jobs over the past twelve months,” said Surtees. “The road coming out of this recession will be a bumpy one, and we have to be prepared to handle the bumps as they come along.”

Over the past 12 months, total nonagricultural wage and salary employment increased 2,600. The majority of these gains came from the leisure and hospitality sector, the trade, transportation, and utilities sector, and the government sector.

Other counties that rank among the lowest unemployment rates are: Shelby County at 6.7 percent, Coffee County at 6.9 percent.

The counties with the highest unemployment rates are Wilcox County at 20 percent, Greene County at 18 percent and Monroe County at 16 percent.