County unemployment rises

By Staff Reports

Franklin County logged a 6.4 percent unemployment rate for May 2015 – up from 5.7 percent in April but lower than May 2014’s 7.4 percent.

Gov. Robert Bentley announced that Alabama’s preliminary, seasonally adjusted May unemployment rate is 6.1 percent.

A slightly larger county labor force in May 2015, as compared with April 2015, could account for some of the rise in unemployment. Last month, Franklin County was reported as having 12,779 of 13,547 people employed. For May 2015, the county is reported as having 12,772 of 13,648 people employed.

Alabama Labor Commissioner Fitzgerald Washington said the state hasn’t “seen wage and salary employment this high in May since 2008.”