Alabama Department of Industrial Relations Director Tom Surtees announced today that Alabama’s November unemployment rate is 9.0 percent, a slight increase above October’s rate of 8.9 percent.

While the state’s overall rate rose, Lowndes County’s unemployment rate dropped by half a percentage point.

In October, the rate was 14.7 percent, but it dropped to 14.2 percent in November.

That number is over a percentage point better than the 15.8 percent unemployment rate posted by the county in November 2009.

The national rate for November was 9.8%, up from October’s national rate of 9.6%.

In November 2010, the ES (Employment Service) Division reported 9,376 active job orders, which is more than any amount recorded in 2007, 2008, or 2009.

Wage and salary employment increased 2,100 over the month with the majority of the upturn resulting from gains in the trade, transportation, and utilities sector.

November’s rate represents 192,961 unemployed persons, compared to 189,289 in October.  A year ago, in November 2009, the state’s unemployment rate was 10.9%, which represented 224,552 unemployed persons.

The counties with the lowest unemployment rates were: Shelby at 6.7%, Coffee at 7.0%, and Madison at 7.1%.  The counties with the highest unemployment rates were: Wilcox at 20.7%, Greene at 18.3%, and Dallas at 16.8%.