Division of Research & Evaluation

Appalachian Regional Commission

Industrial snapshot: Appalachian Alabama

Largest industrial share in 2017: Professional & Technical Services, 236,000 jobs, 13.8 percent of total employment

Fastest growth in employment from 2012 to 2017: Food, Lodging, & Entertainment, 15.4 percent growth

Fastest growth in earnings per employee from 2012 to 2017: Farming & Forestry, 69 percent growth

For more information, please see the complete report, Industrial Make-up of the Appalachian Region, Employment and Earnings, 2002-2017, available 

for download at www.arc.gov/research. The report includes county-level maps for each industry in the region, allowing for comparisons across states and 

subregions, as well discussion about how trends in the Region compare with those in the United States as a whole.

App. Non-App. Total App. Non-App. Total App. Non-App. Total

All Industries 1,707 945 2,652 13,420 196,132 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 $48,356 $43,110 $46,487 $46,697 $57,187

Professional, Technical Services 236 111 347 1,619 28,479 13.8 11.7 13.1 12.1 14.5 $46,428 $30,632 $41,380 $43,107 $61,372

State & Local Government 200 122 321 1,488 19,619 11.7 12.9 12.1 11.1 10.0 $56,560 $54,434 $55,755 $58,113 $69,677

Manufacturing 184 91 275 1,342 13,307 10.8 9.6 10.4 10.0 6.8 $62,898 $65,671 $63,811 $63,583 $77,469

Retail Trade 181 102 283 1,493 19,222 10.6 10.8 10.7 11.1 9.8 $13,492 $17,413 $14,907 $17,906 $22,477

Health, Social Services 158 92 249 1,562 22,199 9.2 9.7 9.4 11.6 11.3 $58,651 $48,597 $54,959 $53,807 $56,340

Food, Lodging, Entertainment 147 89 236 1,240 19,155 8.6 9.4 8.9 9.2 9.8 $18,409 $18,682 $18,512 $21,308 $27,685

Finance, Insurance, Real Estate 146 75 221 1,040 19,616 8.6 7.9 8.3 7.8 10.0 $40,470 $28,820 $36,539 $37,716 $60,386

Personal & Other Services 108 65 172 793 11,170 6.3 6.9 6.5 5.9 5.7 $29,928 $28,480 $29,385 $32,180 $36,353

Wholesale Trade, Transportation 102 60 162 874 14,148 6.0 6.3 6.1 6.5 7.2 $87,937 $75,432 $83,301 $80,686 $83,878

Construction 94 50 144 775 10,636 5.5 5.3 5.4 5.8 5.4 $52,295 $48,692 $51,050 $53,773 $64,788

Federal Government, Military 53 29 82 241 4,786 3.1 3.1 3.1 1.8 2.4 $96,592 $84,809 $92,418 $78,938 $91,808

Education, Information Services 42 26 69 432 8,075 2.5 2.8 2.6 3.2 4.1 $86,987 $75,174 $82,459 $79,670 $82,520

Farming, Forestry 37 27 64 325 3,552 2.2 2.9 2.4 2.4 1.8 $22,096 $34,441 $27,318 $13,726 $28,111

Utilities 11 5 15 57 664 0.6 0.5 0.6 0.4 0.3 $127,235 $106,531 $120,991 $109,314 $125,893

Coal, Gas, Other Mining 9 4 12 140 1,505 0.5 0.4 0.5 1.0 0.8 $36,923 $25,858 $33,621 $48,966 $67,769

Alabama App. U.S. 2017

Employment (thousands) Industrial Share Earnings per employee

Alabama App. U.S. Alabama App. U.S.

App. Non-App. Total App. Non-App. Total

All Industries 6.1 5.6 5.9 4.7 9.6 3.0 3.9 3.3 3.7 3.4

Professional, Technical Services 7.8 8.1 7.9 7.1 12.0 10.5 18.2 12.2 9.3 7.8

State & Local Government 2.5 0.1 1.6 -0.7 2.3 7.3 4.4 6.2 6.8 7.9

Manufacturing 10.8 5.1 8.9 5.5 5.6 3.9 5.3 4.3 3.4 1.4

Retail Trade 3.9 3.3 3.7 2.5 6.4 14.0 7.4 11.1 22.4 15.6

Health, Social Services 7.1 8.2 7.5 5.3 10.5 3.4 2.2 3.0 4.7 4.1

Food, Lodging, Entertainment 15.4 16.2 15.7 11.6 15.1 2.7 4.9 3.5 6.2 8.0

Finance, Insurance, Real Estate 9.4 8.0 8.9 8.6 11.7 1.8 5.2 2.8 -2.5 2.9

Personal & Other Services 3.8 1.1 2.8 3.7 7.7 -1.9 -7.1 -3.9 3.1 2.5

Wholesale Trade, Transportation 4.3 6.1 5.0 6.2 16.8 0.0 4.0 1.2 -0.6 -5.6

Construction 4.5 7.0 5.3 7.2 19.0 -10.5 3.4 -6.5 3.5 7.9

Federal Government, Military -6.6 -4.4 -5.8 -3.9 -2.9 4.4 1.6 3.4 3.4 2.8

Education, Information Services 2.1 5.8 3.5 2.4 8.7 10.2 0.9 6.7 4.4 6.5

Farming, Forestry 4.1 4.0 4.1 0.7 1.3 69.0 26.0 42.9 -6.2 -18.9

Utilities 1.6 7.6 3.3 11.0 14.9 7.3 8.5 7.4 0.3 -2.6

Coal, Gas, Other Mining -17.5 10.1 -10.8 -17.3 -2.7 -45.2 -32.0 -44.2 -23.3 -36.4

2012-2017

Percent change in employment Percent change in earnings per employee

Alabama App. U.S. Alabama App. U.S.