Madison County's jobless rate falls

Unemployment level at 2.7%, down from August

Madison County's 2.7 percent unemployment rate in September was a sharp improvement over August and ranked as the second-lowest rate in Alabama.

Alabama's unemployment rate in September also fell slightly, to 3.7 percent, down from 3.8 percent in August and up a fraction from a year earlier. The U.S. unemployment rate in September was 4.7 percent.

Madison County's jobless rate ranked behind only Shelby County's, at 2.4 percent, while Baldwin County was third with a 2.8 percent rate.

Most of the change for Madison County last month was due to an increase in state and local government jobs, with 700 positions added, according to the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations.

The leading counties all saw their unemployment rates improve from August, with Madison County improving from 3.2 percent, Shelby from 2.7 percent and Baldwin from 3.1 percent.

The Huntsville metropolitan area, which includes Limestone County, had the state's lowest unemployment rate last month at 2.8 percent, followed by Tuscaloosa at 3.1 percent.

The Decatur metro area, which includes Lawrence County, had a 3.3 percent jobless rate, down from August's 3.7 percent.

The highest unemployment rates in Alabama also fell, with Bullock County's rate dropping to 8.9 percent in September from August's 10.6 percent rate. Wilcox County also had a 8.9 percent rate for September, down from 10.2 percent in August.