Alabama's unemployment rate has declined for the second month to 8.1 percent.
The state Department of Industrial Relations announced Friday that October's rate is down from a revised rate of 8.2 percent in September. Alabama's unemployment rate increased for four months during the late spring and summer, hitting 8.5 percent in August before declining for the last two months.
Nearly 9,000 more Alabama residents were working in October than in the prior month.
Counties with the lowest unemployment rates were Shelby at 5.4 percent, Coffee and Madison at 6.6 percent, and Lee and St. Clair at 6.7 percent. Counties with the highest rates were Wilcox at 17.6 percent, Bullock at 16.2 percent and Dallas at 14.8 percent.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.