Montgomery, AL – Alabama's unemployment rate has risen to 10.2 percent, which is the highest figure in more than 25 years.
The state Department of Industrial Relations announced Friday that the rate rose from 10.1 percent in June to 10.2 percent in July. Alabama hasn't recorded a rate that high since unemployment reached 10.4 percent in April 1984.
The July figure represents more than 215,000 Alabamians out of work.
Counties with the lowest unemployment rates are Shelby at 7.6 percent, Madison at 7.9 percent, and Baldwin at 8.5 percent. The highest rates are Wilcox at 24.9 percent, Dallas at 21.1 percent, and Perry at 20.0 percent.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)