The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
Unemployment rates are rising across U.S. metropolitan areas, provoking alarm across the nation and likely leading to interest rate cuts in September.
As of July, unemployment rates increased in 350 out of 389 U.S. metros areas—including 47 of the 51 largest metros, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
To get a glimpse of regional variations in employment, Stacker compiled a list of counties with the highest unemployment rates in Alabama, using BLS data. Counties are ranked by their preliminary unemployment rate in July 2024, with initial ties broken by the number of unemployed people within that county, though some ties may remain. County-level unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted.
The national unemployment rate remains relatively low at 4.3%. Still, it's up substantially from 3.5% during the same month last year and has climbed to the highest rate since November 2021. By comparison, unemployment rates surged to 10% in October 2009 during the Great Recession, and a full recovery took years. At the height of the brief COVID-19 recession in April 2020, unemployment hit 14.7%.
The Federal Reserve has shifted its focus from curbing inflation to unemployment, indicating plans to cut interest rates in the coming weeks and months to alleviate economic strain and avoid further job losses.
Since last year, unemployment has spiked in over half of states—a signal often indicating a looming recession, as Piper Sandler Chief Global Economist Nancy Lazar told Business Insider. These jobless rates, paired with layoffs among major U.S. employers like Google and Tesla, have sparked concern among Americans. Minus a major economic blow, economists continue to forecast that the U.S. is tracking toward an incremental slowdown in growth known as a "soft landing."
To get a better idea of your community's current economy, read on to see the counties with the highest unemployment in Alabama.
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- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.0%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.6 percentage points
- Total labor force: 31,835 people (951 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.1%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 8,959 people (282 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.1%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 11,507 people (354 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.1%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.3 percentage points
- Total labor force: 14,416 people (443 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.1%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 21,620 people (673 unemployed)
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- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.1%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 49,399 people (1,529 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.1%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 332,111 people (10,188 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.2%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.1 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.6 percentage points
- Total labor force: 22,649 people (732 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.2%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.6 percentage points
- Total labor force: 23,811 people (757 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.2%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 26,285 people (851 unemployed)
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- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.2%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.1 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.3 percentage points
- Total labor force: 110,003 people (3,557 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.3%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.7 percentage points
- Total labor force: 9,800 people (322 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.3%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 16,700 people (549 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.3%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.1 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 37,017 people (1,210 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.3%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.8 percentage points
- Total labor force: 83,893 people (2,775 unemployed)
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- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.3%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.6 percentage points
- Total labor force: 108,108 people (3,527 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.4%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.3 percentage points
- Total labor force: 5,938 people (199 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.4%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.7 percentage points
- Total labor force: 6,215 people (211 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.4%
--- 1-month change: No change
--- 1-year change: Up 0.6 percentage points
- Total labor force: 7,262 people (250 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.4%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 9,970 people (343 unemployed)
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- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.4%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 15,292 people (513 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.5%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 12,996 people (451 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.5%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.8 percentage points
- Total labor force: 18,004 people (632 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.5%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.8 percentage points
- Total labor force: 44,228 people (1,554 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.6%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.6 percentage points
- Total labor force: 23,962 people (869 unemployed)
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- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.6%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.6 percentage points
- Total labor force: 24,442 people (876 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.6%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 46,396 people (1,659 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.6%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.1 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 191,485 people (6,945 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.7%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.6 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 1.0 percentage points
- Total labor force: 4,546 people (169 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.7%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.8 percentage points
- Total labor force: 15,966 people (587 unemployed)
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- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.7%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.7 percentage points
- Total labor force: 39,935 people (1,462 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.8%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.5 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 1.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 6,508 people (247 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.8%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.6 percentage points
- Total labor force: 14,548 people (552 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.9%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.6 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 1.3 percentage points
- Total labor force: 4,673 people (183 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.9%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.9 percentage points
- Total labor force: 8,982 people (349 unemployed)
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- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.0%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.1 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 7,615 people (302 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.2%
--- 1-month change: Down 0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 4,378 people (186 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.2%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.1 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.6 percentage points
- Total labor force: 6,083 people (255 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.2%
--- 1-month change: No change
--- 1-year change: Up 0.8 percentage points
- Total labor force: 7,976 people (332 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.5%
--- 1-month change: Down 0.1 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Down 0.3 percentage points
- Total labor force: 7,886 people (358 unemployed)
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- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.6%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.6 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 1.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 8,422 people (388 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.7%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.1 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 4,146 people (196 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.9%
--- 1-month change: No change
--- 1-year change: Up 0.8 percentage points
- Total labor force: 6,897 people (338 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.3%
--- 1-month change: No change
--- 1-year change: Up 0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 3,571 people (189 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.6%
--- 1-month change: Up 1.0 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.9 percentage points
- Total labor force: 2,932 people (163 unemployed)
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- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 6.0%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.9 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 1.0 percentage points
- Total labor force: 4,594 people (275 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 6.1%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 1.0 percentage points
- Total labor force: 7,700 people (469 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 6.2%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: No change
- Total labor force: 13,434 people (833 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 7.0%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 1.0 percentage points
- Total labor force: 3,087 people (216 unemployed)
- July unemployment rate (preliminary): 8.8%
--- 1-month change: Up 0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: Up 0.9 percentage points
- Total labor force: 2,609 people (230 unemployed)
This story features data reporting and writing by Paxtyn Merten and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 50 states.
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