Daphne-Fairhope-Foley
at the margin.

## Labor Market Conditions — Daphne-Fairhope-Foley

The Daphne-Fairhope-Foley labor market is in equilibrium. Employment grew modestly over the past year — up roughly 0.4% — and momentum is holding steady, with no meaningful acceleration or deceleration in the trend. This is a market that is neither heating up nor pulling back.

Unemployment ticked up slightly year over year, rising to just under 5%, though that move is small enough to reflect normal seasonal variation rather than a structural shift. Taken together, the employment and unemployment pictures tell a consistent story: this market has found a near-term floor and ceiling and is moving sideways within it (Fig. 1).