WASHINGTON: The unemployment rate in the Shoals tilted upward in December but was slightly below the December 2015 reading, according to the latest figures available. The rate in the Shoals Metropolitan Statistical Area was 6.5 percent in December, according to the Alabama Department of Labor. That is up from 6.1 percent in November but down from 6.8 percent in December 2015. The Shoals MSA is defined as Colbert and Lauderdale counties. The numbers indicate 62,137 people were employed in December while 4,349 were seeking work. In November, 63,135 were working with 4,114 seeking work. The December 2015 figures showed 61,876 people working and 4,491 unemployed. The workforce in December was 66,486, which is a drop from 67,249 in November, the figures indicate. That is up, however, from 66,367 in December 2015.
Those trends appeared common throughout Alabama’s 12 MSAs, as all saw increases in unemployment rates and drops in the civilian labor force in December, according to the figures. The unemployment rate among Alabama MSAs ranged from a low of 5 percent in the Auburn-Opelika MSA to a high of 7.1 percent in Mobile’s MSA, according to the labor force. Forrest Wright, president of the Shoals Economic Development Authority, said the overall trend indicates a steady unemployment rate over recent months. He said it is important to realize the monthly numbers are “a snapshot of today.” “You take the same snapshot a month from now and the numbers could be drastically different,” he said.
The year-to-year figures indicate a downward trend in Shoals unemployment. Wright said the goal is to find jobs for everyone, but also to find people to fill local job openings. “We still have people looking for work and still have companies looking for good employees, and we’re trying to match them up,” Wright said. “We need to figure out a way to match up those who have marketable skills with those companies that need people who have these marketable skills. Efforts are being made to do that, but there’s still a gap.”
