FROM STAFF REPORTS

Shelby County’s June unemployment rate jumped to 7.7 percent, up from 6.9 percent in May and 6.5 percent in April.

Shelby County still has the lowest unemployment rate in Alabama, which saw its June unemployment rate rise to 9.9 percent, up from May’s rate of 9.6 percent and the 9.3 percent from June 2010.

June’s state rate represents 213,975 unemployed persons, compared to 206,578 last month and 197,780 in June 2010.

“While we are disappointed to report any increase in our seasonally adjusted

unemployment rate, we keep in mind the contributing factors that led us here,” Alabama Department of Industrial Relations Director Tom Surtees said. “We still have hundreds of Alabamians unemployed as a direct result of the tornadoes of last April and the national unemployment rate also continues to rise.

“On the positive side, we have observed an uptick in the number of discouraged workers re-entering the job market in their employment search,” he added. “There were over 33,000 more Alabamians working in June than in January, but during this same period over 50,000 came into the workforce.”

The counties with the lowest unemployment rates were Shelby County, Coffee County at 8.4 percent and Limestone County at 8.7 percent. The counties with the highest unemployment rates were Wilcox County at 23.4 percent, Perry County at 19.9 percent and Dallas County at 19.1 percent.