Tuscaloosa Unemployment Stats Show Month-To-Month Improvement

Unemployment claims for the Tuscaloosa metro area may be much higher for June than the same month last year, but last month saw noticeable improvement across the board from May as the economy continues to adjust and many return to work amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the latest numbers published by the Alabama Department of Labor, the Tuscaloosa metropolitan area saw unemployment fall from 10.8% in May to 9.1% in June, which is still nearly triple the unemployment rate from the 3.3% reported in June 2019.

The city of Tuscaloosa’s unemployment rate was more than percentage point higher than that of the metro area, coming in at 10.5% for June, but still marking an improvement from 11.9% unemployment the previous month. Year-over-year, though, June’s unemployment rate for the city was substantially higher than the 3.7% reported in June 2019.

The city’s civilian labor force — made up of everyone employed or actively looking for work — came in at 46,985, with 42,061 currently employed.

Tuscaloosa County followed trends similar to the metro area, reporting a 1.7% month-to-month improvement to 9% unemployment. However, the total for June is still substantially higher than the 3.2% reported for the same month a year ago.

On the other side of the Black Warrior River, the city of Northport saw a sustained improvement for its unemployment fortunes, falling from 8.5% in May to 7.2% last month, which is still compared to the low 2.5% unemployment rate for Northport in June 2019. The city's labor force was reported to be 13,170 in June as 944 people are currently out of work.

The state department of labor reported Alabama’s preliminary, seasonally-adjusted June unemployment rate at 7.5%, down from May’s revised rate of 9.6%, but still above June 2019’s rate of 2.9%.

According to the agency, June’s rate represents 165,770 unemployed people, compared to 216,043 in May and 65,389 in June 2019.

Additionally, wage and salary employment grew in June by 42,300, as monthly gains were seen in the hard-hit leisure and hospitality sector, which added 24,100 jobs. Other improvements could be seen in the trade, transportation, and utilities sector (+8,900), the professional and business services sector (+6,900), and the manufacturing sector (+4,800).

While Alabama’s unemployment situation for June is a far cry from where the state was at this point last year, it still performed far better than the national unemployment rate of 11.1% for June.