Alabama’s unemployment rate was unchanged from August to September, though drops were seen in Limestone and neighboring counties.

The state rate remained steady at 4.1 percent, while Limestone’s rate went from 3.7 percent in August to 3.4 percent in September. Limestone’s rate a year ago was 3.3 percent.

Madison’s rate dropped from 3.6 percent to 3.4, while Morgan County’s rate dropped from 3.7 to 3.4. Lauderdale County’s jobless rate fell from 4.6 percent to 4.1.

Republican Gov. Kay Ivey said wage and salary employment reached a record high, and the number of people counted as working was also a record high, for the fifth month in a row.

“Not only are we experiencing record high employment, this month we’ve also broken another record – our economy is currently supporting the most number of jobs in history,” Ivey said. “September’s job count of 2,048,000 bypasses the previous record of 2,045,800, which was set in December 2007.”

Alabama had a year-over-year job growth of 1.3 percent, the largest percentage increase in 2018.

Average weekly earnings increased over the year by $53.82. Manufacturing weekly earnings increased by $27.18 over the year, and construction weekly earnings were up $55.08 over the year.

The rate represents 90,830 unemployed persons, compared to 91,183 in August and 83,667 in September 2017.

Counties with the lowest unemployment rates are: Shelby County at 2.8 percent, Cullman County at 3.1 percent and Marshall and Elmore Counties at 3.3 percent.

Counties with the highest unemployment rates are: Wilcox County at 9.3 percent, Clarke County at 7.3 percent and Lowndes County at 7.2 percent.