If it&8217;s starting to seem like a trend, that&8217;s because it is.

Indeed &8212; the national rate is 4.7 percent. Compare Alabama&8217;s 3.1 to the 4.0 percent unemployment benchmark utilized by economists as the line below which economies are doing well.

Alabama&8217;s unemployment rate hasn&8217;t risen above 4 percent now since the fall of 2004 except for September 2005 following the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina.