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According to numbers released Thursday by the Alabama Department of Labor (ADOL), 115 initial unemployment claims were filed in Dallas County last week, marking three straight weeks of declining unemployment claims in the county.

During the week of July 18, the county registered 291 claims – that number fell to 195 the following week and climbed down again, during the week of August 1, to 132 claims filed.

The most recent numbers represent the lowest number of claims filed in the county since March 21, as the pandemic first began digging its claws into the state, when only 48 claims were filed.

Statewide, the trend is largely the same, as just under 9,470 initial unemployment claims were filed last week compared to nearly 11,700 the week before – of those filed last week, 6,100 were related to the ongoing and growing COVID-19 pandemic.

Across the region, numbers largely followed the same pattern – Autauga County logged 87 initial unemployment claims last week, down from 105 the week before, while Lowndes County saw its claim numbers drop from 24 during the week of August 1 to only 18 in the most recent report.

Marengo County also saw its numbers notch down, from 46 during the week of August 1 to 31 in the most recent report, as did Perry County, which registered 26 initial unemployment claims last week compared to 32 the week before.

Wilcox County’s numbers also plunged, dropping from 39 during the week of August 1 to 19 in the data released Thursday.

Elsewhere in the Black Belt, counties saw the following numbers:

• Barbour County saw 41 initial claims filed last week, down from 69 the week before;

• Bullock County saw 22 initial claims filed last week, down from 31 the week before;

• Butler County saw 44 initial claims filed last week, down from 57 the week before;

• Choctaw County saw 21 initial claims filed last week, up from the 15 filed the week before;

• Clarke County saw 57 initial claims filed last week, down from 58 filed the week before;

• Conecuh County saw 23 initial claims filed last week, down from 34 the week before;

• Crenshaw County saw 15 initial claims filed last week, down from 28 the week before;

• Greene County saw 26 initial claims filed last week, up from 20 filed the week before;

• Hale County saw 41 initial claims filed last week, down from 56 the week before;

• Lee County saw 179 initial claims filed last week, down from 289 the week before;

• Macon County saw 32 initial claims filed last week, down from 38 the week before;

• Monroe County saw 35 initial claims filed last week, down from 59 the week before;

• Montgomery County saw 459 initial claims filed last week, down from 670 the week before;

• Pickens County saw 30 initial claims filed last week, up from 27 the week before;

• Pike County saw 67 initial claims filed last week, down from 70 the week before;

• Russell County saw 121 initial claims filed last week, down from 193 the week before;

• Sumter County saw 27 initial claims filed last week, down from 32 the week before;

• Tuscaloosa County saw 315 initial claims filed last week, down from 416 the week before.

The hardest hit county in the state continues to be Jefferson County, which logged 1,412 initial unemployment claims last week, an improvement over the more than 1,560 filed the week before.

Likewise, the unclassified sector continues to make up the largest portion of unemployment filings in the state, with more than 3,130 last week, followed by the manufacturing sector, which saw nearly 1,200 initial claims filed last week.

The retail trade sector and the remediation services sector each logged more than 875 claims last week, while the accommodation and food services industry contributed just shy of 790 new claims and the healthcare and social assistance sector logged just short of 690 claims.