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Auburn Montgomery economist Keivan Deravi said there was no connection.

“It has nothing to do with the immigration law,” Deravi said. “If it does, I will tear up my PhD.”

He said there are two reasons the unemployment numbers were down: More jobs were created and some people stopped looking for work.

“A large number of people dropped out of the job market, they gave up,” he said.

Alabama’s job gains came primarily in the trade, transportation and utilities sector, the government sector, and the professional and business services sector.

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Tom Surtees, Alabama Industrial Relations director, said Friday he had no evidence supporting the argument the new law had affected the numbers — or evidence against it.

He did say that the state’s “Work Alabama” program that’s purpose was to match job seekers with available short-term work “was not as successful as we wanted it to be.”

He said the program had more job seekers than employers.

It was not just Alabama that saw the decrease in unemployment. Alabama’s drop mirrored a national decline from 9.1 percent in September to 9.0 in October. Three of Alabama’s neighbors — Georgia, Tennessee and Florida — had drops in their unemployment numbers.

State Rep. Barry Mask, R- Wetumpka, director of the Elmore County Economic Authority, said at least two companies there have added 50 to 60 jobs recently.

“That’s helped us,” he said.

Elton Dean, Montgomery County Commission chairman, said he was pleased with Montgomery’s decline.

“We haven’t had time to investigate where our numbers came from, but it’s good news,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com Alabama farmers losing immigrant labor, see produce rotting in the fields - “Farmers sometimes find someone local interested in a job, McMillan said, but the vast majority walk off by lunch. “Very seldom make a day.”
http://blog.al.com/breaking/2011/09/alabama_farmers_losing_immigra.html