By Lee Roop
All 12 Alabama metro areas “ranked among the lowest (metropolitan unemployment rates) in the country” for in April, Gov. Kay Ivey told the Huntsville-Madison County Chamber of Commerce today.
“Huntsville and Decatur metro unemployment is down to 1.4 percent tying fourth place nationally,” Ivey said speaking to a chamber lunch by video recording after problems with her state airplane grounded the governor in Montgomery.
“Y’all, these are historic lows,” Ivey said, “and we’re not slowing down.”
Speaking for Ivey in person to the luncheon, State Finance Director Bill Poole said the Birmingham-Hoover metro unemployment rate fell in April from 1.8 to 1.6 percent, the lowest ranking for a metro with a population of 1 million or more. Statewide, Alabama’s current 2.2 percent unemployment puts it in the top five states with the lowest jobless rates, Poole said.
“It wasn’t that long ago that our unemployment numbers were north of 10 (percent),” he said. “It’s creating new challenges in the workforce; we all know that, but it is great to have low unemployment.”
Poole said Huntsville and the Tennessee Valley recorded $10 billion in commercial investment and 30,000 new jobs in the last dozen years calling the area “a pacesetter.”
Poole also spoke about the continuing battle over where to locate Space Command. He said Ivey believes Huntsville “is the only choice for U.S. Space Command Headquarters and she is committed to that just as this community and all of you are committed to that.”
Ivey “is proud to add her voice to the strong force of bipartisan support for a thorough investigation of the Biden administration’s delay announcing a permanent home for Space Command Headquarters,” Poole said. “She commends, and I do as well, the entire Alabama federal delegation that has worked so hard.”
Ivey is closely monitoring the base process daily, Poole said, and she is exploring further options to make sure the command comes to Redstone Arsenal. “Anything the governor and the governor’s office can do to support you, please let us know,” Poole said.
The two-year delay between the announcement of Redstone Arsenal as the best headquarters candidate and the official notification “cannot be seen as anything but political,” Poole said. “The facts clearly show that the delay is not in the best interest of America’s national defense.”
Poole said he “stuck closely” to Ivey’s prepared remarks for the speech because there were things in it Ivey wanted the area to hear.
