The unemployment rate for Athens and Limestone County remained low in July.

The rate for the county dropped to 2.4%, down from the 2.7% posted in June. The unemployment rate for Athens last month was slightly lower at 2.3%, down from 2.6% in June.

Both figures are well below the 5.1% and 4.6% posted by Limestone County and Athens respectively in July 2020. Though much improved, those numbers were still somewhat inflated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The Alabama Career Center System continues to connect employers and job seekers through local and regional job fairs,” said Alabama Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington. “These collaborative community events are targeting industry sectors that still need employees and job seekers looking for new or better opportunities. Those sectors, along with wages, are hitting new record highs. The average weekly wage for the private sector was up a whopping $64.16 over the year.”

There were 1,085 residents listed as unemployed in Limestone County for July, with 293 of those in Athens. Those figures are down from 1,230 and 331 respectively in June.

The state of Alabama as a whole came in with a July unemployment rate of 3.2%, down from 3.3% in June and less than half the 7.4% posted in July 2020. The national average unemployment rate is 5.4%.

“Each month, we edge closer and closer to our pre-pandemic unemployment rate,” Gov. Kay Ivey said. “Employers have added over 73,000 jobs in the past year, and nearly 83,000 more people are working today than they were last year. Industries that were hit the hardest are seeing employment numbers increase monthly. We’ll keep working as hard as we can to continue this remarkable progress.”

Shelby County posted the lowest unemployment rate for July at 1.9%. By comparison, Wilcox County came in at 11.2%. Homewood had the lowest figure in July for major cities at 1.8%, while Selma had the highest at 9.4%.