The adjusted unemployment rate for Franklin County for Jan. 2015 is 7.1 percent, which is up from Dec. 2014 when the unemployment was sitting at 6.3 percent, according to the Alabama Labor Department. The unemployment rate for Franklin County for Jan. of 2014 was 9.7 percent.

But Gov. Robert Bentley announced last Tuesday that Alabama’s preliminary, seasonally adjusted January unemployment rate was 6 percent which was down from December 2014’s revised rate of 6.1 percent, and below January 2014’s rate of 7.2 percent.

“January’s rate marks 14 months with no increase in our unemployment rate,” Gov. Bentley said. “For the past two months, more than two million people have been working in this state, which hasn’t happened since November 2008. We continue to remain hopeful that our economy is turning around and Alabamians are gaining employment.”

The number of people reported as employed by the Current Population Survey in January is 2,006,903, and 2,001,069 in December 2014.  The last time this number was equal to or higher was November 2008, when the number of people reported working was 2,007,253, according to officials.

“Our economy is supporting the largest number of jobs since 2008,” Alabama Labor Commissioner Fitzgerald Washington said. “The annual increase in jobs, year over year, is the second highest we’ve experienced in the past decade.  That’s certainly great news and shows that Alabama’s employers are continuing to hire.”

According to the establishment survey, over the year, wage and salary employment increased by 37,400, with gains in the professional and business services sector (+9,700), the leisure and hospitality sector (+6,900), and the trade, transportation, and utilities sector (+6,600), among others. Wage and salary employment decreased in January by 25,400.  Monthly gains were seen in the information sector, the financial activities sector, and the “other services” sector.

The only time the year over year growth was higher was January 2006, when growth was 45,100.

Sixty-six of 67 counties experienced drops in their unemployment rates over the year.  Only Colbert County saw an increase of 0.2. Wilcox County, which traditionally has a high unemployment rate, saw a yearly drop of 5.4 percentage points.

Counties with the lowest unemployment rates are: Shelby County at 4.2 percent, Lee County at 5.2 percent, and Elmore, Tuscaloosa, and St. Clair Counties at 5.3 percent.  Counties with the highest unemployment rates are:  Wilcox County at 14.9 percent, Clarke and Greene Counties at 11.8 percent, and Lowndes County at 11.5 percent.

JobLink, the state’s online free jobs database (www.joblink.alabama.gov), registered 19,777 active job orders in January.