Friday, August 19, 2005

Alabama jobless rate dips to one percentage point below U-S rate

Alabama's unemployment rate has dropped to a full percentage point below the national average, dipping to four percent in one the state's biggest monthly declines in years.

Samuel Addy, an economics expert at the University of Alabama, said the numbers both reflect the continued growth of the state's automotive industry and cast doubt on the idea that illegal immigrants are taking valuable jobs from Americans.

The Riley administration released figures yesterday showing the state's jobless rate for July dropped oh-point-four percent from June to July, one of the largest monthly decreases in nearly two decades.

The overall state unemployment rate of four percent compared to a national rate of five percent last month.

Experts say gains in the automotive and other industries have helped offset the loss of as many as 50,000 jobs in the last decade, many of them in the textile and apparel industries.

At risk of being accused of over simplification, I offer up two words to explain this phenomenon.....NO UNIONS.

No comments: