A count of every non-incarcerated Alabama registrant listed on the public registry of legal working age is an astounding 57.1%. ReFORM-AL counted every registrant listed with a job, removing any registrant listed as incarcerated, in jail or prison, leaving 6101 registrants. Of those remaining registrants, only 2620 (42.9% have jobs, while the remaining 3453 (57.1%) were unemployed.
Among counties with larger populations, Montgomery (69.9%), Calhoun (64.2%), Colbert (62.6%), Talledega (61.4%), St. Clair (61.1%), Mobile (61.1%), Cullman (58.6%),
There are two reasons for this high level of unemployment rate. First, employers are publicly listed (and shamed) on the registry. Second (and more importantly), Alabama registrants cannot work within 2000 feet of a school or day care center. In 2016, a registrant volunteering as a firefighter was arrested for taking service calls too close to a school. Many registrants are too afraid to even look for work out of fear of violating this law!
ReFORM-AL is leading the effort to reform Alabama’s severe work restrictions. We will be pushing for repeal of these restrictions. Stay tuned for upcoming events from ReFORM-AL.
For a complete chart, CLICK HERE. It is in Microsoft Excel format.
In other news, HB 301 was signed into law. Read more about that HERE.
In other news, HB 301 was signed into law. Read more about that HERE.
