MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama's unemployment rate has dropped to a record low 3.6 percent.
The governor's office says the rate announced Friday is down from the September rate of 3.8 percent, and it's the lowest ever recorded in Alabama.
Last month's rate is well below the state's October 2016 rate of 6.1 percent. And it's three-tenths of a percent better than that rate of 4.1 percent, which was the lowest in almost 17 years.
The state rate represents about 77,000 unemployed people in October compared to about 83,000 jobless people in September.
Statistics show annual growth is strongest in the leisure and hospitality sector, with 7,100 jobs added.
Shelby County in metro Birmingham has the state's lowest jobless rate at 2.6 percent, and Wilcox County in western Alabama is highest at 8.9 percent.
