Job Loss Hits 25-Year High in Alabama
Rural Counties Hardest Hit
Job loss in Alabama has topped a 25-year high with new unemployment data just released from the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations. Statewide unemployment hit double digit 10.4 percent, the highest since 1984.
The August rate represents more than 217,309 unemployed people in Alabama.
The news is far worse for rural counties served by the Edmundite Missions. Wilcox County has the state's highest unemployment rate at 25.4%, where the Missions sponors a food pantry, preschool and adult day care center. The second highest rate of 21.3 percent is in Dallas County where the Missions was founded 72 years ago.
Other counties with Missions’ outreach ministries are Lowndes and Monroe Counties, which hit 18.8 percent and 18.4 percent unemployment respectively as factories and industries have shut down due to the troubled times.
If you want to help provide food and other necessities to the many rural Alabama families struggling with job loss, here's how to get involved.
