Alabama’s statewide unemployment rate has dropped once again – from 4.9% in May down to just 4.6% in June – which is a vast improvement over this time a year ago, when that rate was 5.8%.

At just 4.7% for the month of June Cherokee County has yet again posted a much lower rate than its neighbors – with Cleburne County posting a rate of 5.1%; Etowah 5.2%; DeKalb the next lowest at 5.3 and Calhoun County’s latest rate is 5.9%.  Shelby County had the lowest rate in the state at 3.8% – Wilcox the highest at 13.5%.

Alabama Department of Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington says that the over-the-year job growth has been 1.8% – the highest Alabama has seen in eleven years.