MONTGOMERY — The monthly unemployment report, released Friday by Gov. Robert Bentley’s office and Alabama Department of Labor, showed the state’s unemployment figure improved in July. But, the same could not be said for Dallas County or neighboring counties within the Black Belt.

Overall, Alabama’s unemployment rate fell to 6.3 percent in July, falling slightly from June’s figure of 6.5 percent. July’s figure is also much improved over last July’s unemployment figure of 7.6 percent.

Bentley said the slight improvement is nice to see, but much work remains to be done.

“While we are encouraged to see another drop in our unemployment rate, we need to remember there is still a lot of work to be done,” Bentley said in a release from his office. “We will continue to recruit more jobs. We will continue to show how Alabama is a great place to do business. We will encourage more companies to build here and expand and hire more people. And we will continue these efforts until everyone who wants a job is able to find one.”

As for Dallas County, which reported the third highest unemployment rate in the state in July at 14.4 percent, the figures are better than in 2012, but still high.

Wilcox County reported the highest unemployment rate in July at 16.3 percent. Although the highest in Alabama, it was an improvement over July 2012, when the county reported an unemployment rate of 18 percent.

Perry County was the second highest at 14.7 percent, while Lowndes County came in at 12.4 percent.

In each case, each county reported a higher unemployment figure in July than they did in June.

The only Dallas County neighbor to show an improvement from June to July, was Marengo County, which reported an unemployment rate of 8.1 percent in July compared to the 8.3 percent reported in June.

Still, state officials say hiring overall in Alabama is improving and the statistics prove it.

Currently, over 15,000 jobs are available on JobLink, Alabama’s free online jobs database (www.joblink.alabama.gov). Record numbers of jobs continue to be posted to the database, with the average monthly job count consistently being 1,000 more than at the same time last year.

Help Wanted Online data, which counts jobs on JobLink and other online sources, counts more than 51,000 total job ads in Alabama. The professions with the most jobs advertised online, as reflected by HWOL, are registered nursing and truck driving, with average hourly wages of $26.37 and $17.99 respectively.

In July, there were 2,277 ads for registered nurses and 2,852 for truck drivers.

“Employers are hiring in Alabama,” Alabama Department of Labor Commissioner Tom Surtees said. “The most in-demand jobs posted — meaning jobs available now — are relatively high-paying jobs that translate into lifelong careers. Additionally, we know that more jobs are coming, as more companies have announced that they are locating or expanding in Alabama.”

The last time Alabama’s unemployment rate was at or below 6.3 percent was October of 2008 when the rate was 5.9 percent.