MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama's unemployment rate rose to 7.8 percent in June, an increase that state officials are calling seasonal.
The Alabama Department of Industrial Relations released the state's jobless rate on Friday. It was up four-tenths of a percent from May's unemployment rate of 7.4 percent, but it's still well below the jobless rate from a year ago.
Industrial Relations Director Tom Surtees says the unemployment rate is up because more people were out looking for jobs as the summer break began in June. He calls the increase an inevitable seasonal fluctuation.
The jobless rate represents 168,775 people who are seeking work in the state. Shelby County in suburban Birmingham has the state's lowest jobless rate, at 6.1 percent. Wilcox County has the state's highest jobless rate at 18.8 percent.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.