Unemployment down across Wiregrass

The jobless picture brightened a bit for most Wiregrass residents last month, according to new data released by the the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations.

While Alabama’s unemployment rate was unchanged from March to April, at 9 percent, all six Wiregrass counties in the Eagle coverage area, dropped in April.

The biggest drop came in Geneva County, where the number of people with active claims dropped by 153. Joblessness was at 8 percent, compared to 9.2 percent in March.

Three other local counties are in the bottom eight in terms of lowest unemployment in the state. These are Dale at 7.1; Houston at 6.8; and Coffee at 6.2. Both Houston and Dale counties dropped by 0.8 percent this past month. Coffee County unemployment dropped 0.9 percent.

Henry and Barbour counties had the highest unemployment in the area, at 8.6 and 9.9 percent, respectively. Barbour was the only local county with double-digit unemployment in March, at 10.5 percent.

Every county in the state is up from a year ago, with Houston, Geneva, Dale and Coffee counties more than double what they were in April 2008.

Only five of the state’s 67 counties reported an increase in unemployment in April over March.

However small, any decrease is seen as a positive, as officials are hoping the latest numbers mark the beginning of a turn in the economic picture. This was the first time in 18 months that Alabama’s unemployment did not increase.

Alabama Department of Industrial Relations Director Tom Surtees sees that as hope for the end of the recession.

“While we still have many in our state who are unemployed, we are starting to see increases in some job sectors and decreases in the number of jobs being lost throughout the month,” Surtees said by way of a press release. “Hopefully, these trends will continue.”