The Alexander City Outlook

Unemployment falls

The unemployment rate in Tallapoosa County dropped to 12.3 percent in July, according to figures released Friday by the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations.

The rate is down from the 13.6 percent jobless rate the department reported for the county in June and represents 2,155 unemployed persons in Tallapoosa County.

“It’s going in the right direction,” said Don McClellan, executive director of the Lake Martin Area Economic Development Alliance. “Hopefully we can keep it going.”

McClellan said the LMEDA is continuing to work with auto-manufacturing companies Sejin America, KwangSung America and SL Alabama as they plan expansions and he hopes to attract some new companies to the area in the coming months as well.

“We had another Korean company visit yesterday and we’ve got some American companies looking at the area too,” McClellan added.

In Coosa County, the unemployment rate rose to 14 percent in July from 13.1 percent in June, representing 633 unemployed opposed to June’s reported 577 persons.

Overall, Alabama’s jobless rate fell to 9.7 percent in July, down from 10.3 percent in June. The last time Alabama’s unemployment rate was at or below 9.7 percent was in April 2009, when the rate was 9.7 percent, according to the statement.

The rate represents 202,539 unemployed persons in the state, down from 216,501 in June.

“We are happy to announce a drop in our unemployment rate,” said DIR director Tom Surtees in the press release. “This is the lowest rate we have seen in over a year. We’ve seen our rate stabilizing over the past several months, and, hopefully, July’s rate will be the beginning of a continual drop in Alabama’s employment.”