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The Alabama Department of Labor (ADOL) released weekly unemployment figures Thursday, showing another 218 new jobless claims were filed in Dallas County last week.

Last week’s numbers follow a continual downward trend for the county, which saw 228 new unemployment claims filed during the week ending June 5 and 232 filed during the last week of May.

Likewise, the state continues to see a decrease in new weekly claims – the most recent report shows that just over 18,300 new unemployment claims were filed last week, down from 19,950 the week before.

Across the region, jobless claims continue to follow a similar downward trend for the most part, though some counties experienced a small increase in the number of new claims being filed – Autauga County saw 203 new jobless claims filed last week, down slightly from last week’s 211; Lowndes County registered 73 new claims last week, an increase of more than a dozen over the week before; Marengo County saw 72 new claims filed last week, a slight decrease over the 77 logged the week before; Perry County saw 41 new jobless claims last week, compared to 50 the week before, and Wilcox County registered 81 new claims versus 110 the week before.

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, ADOL has disbursed more than $2 billion in coronavirus-related unemployment benefits, which represents 95 percent of claims paid out thus far.

Still, ADOL Secretary Fitzgerald Washington acknowledged that there are still people in need across the state.

“We acknowledge that there are still many unemployed Alabamians out there who continue to need our help,” said Washington. “They may have issues with existing claims, or may need to update their information, or they just simply have questions.  We know that it remains difficult to contact us. The new call center that opened earlier this month is now running at full capacity, and our live chat feature is also up and running. We continue to be overwhelmed with calls and requests, with more than 210,000 calls coming in daily. However, we are committed to providing all Alabamians assistance and continue to work diligently to do so.”