Jobless rate creeps up

The unemployment rate for Franklin County in January has been reported in at 6.7 percent – an uptick from December 2015, at 6.1 percent, despite a reduction in labor force from 13,659 in December 2015 to 13,501 in January.

The state’s unemployment rate hit right at 6.2 percent but reported growth overall in the labor force, which ADOL Commissioner Fitzgerald Washington pegged as a good sign.

Franklin County’s unemployment rate is lower than all surrounding counties: Lauderdale, 7.1 percent; Colbert, 7.8 percent; Lawrence, 7.8 percent; Winston, 7.9 percent; and Marion, 7.1 percent. Notably, the number of those unemployed in Franklin County, 898, was actually greater than those unemployed in Winston or Marion – 719 and 864, respectively.