Morgan County’s unemployment rate is at its lowest in more than a year, according to information released to the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations today.

In October, 8.3 percent of the Morgan County workforce was without a job, which is down from 9.4 percent in September and 8.9 percent a year ago. The number of jobless persons is now 4,699, down from 5,276 in September and 4,986 in October 2010.

The number of employed persons is now 51,996, an increase of 1,028 from September 2011 and up 931 from October 2010. The overall civilian labor force also increased by almost 450 last month.

The Decatur metropolitan area also saw a steep decrease in unemployment – from 9.6 percent in September to 8.7 percent in October. The number of unemployed persons also fell by 765 to 6,200 in October and the number of employed increased by more than 1,300 to 66,092.

Alabama’s unemployment numbers also improved significantly from 9.8 percent in September to 9.3 percent in October.  The state unemployment numbers are seasonally adjusted while the county unemployment numbers are not seasonally adjusted.

“The drop in Alabama’s unemployment rate is certainly good news for our state,” said Gov. Robert Bentley. “While we are still a long way from reaching full employment, October’s decline shows positive momentum for our state as we continue our mission to put Alabamians back to work.”

Alabama Industrial Relations Director Tom Surtees said the state added a large number of jobs this month.

“These positive indicators, along with the fact that we added nearly 10,000 jobs this month, contributed to the large decrease,” continued Surtees.  “We are certainly not out of the woods yet, but we are optimistic that we will continue to see positive hiring trends for the rest of the year, especially as seasonal hiring picks up for the holidays.”

Wage and salary employed increased in October by 9,700, with the majority of the gains coming from the trade, transportation, utilities sector, the government sector and the professional and business services sector.