When Gov. Robert Bentley and state officials hailed Alabama's big drop in unemployment over a 12-month period ending in April, Norris said the jobless numbers released by the state weren't realistic.

His views have been justified over a three-month period after state figures released Friday showed the Alabama jobless rate climbed for the third straight month, from 6.8 percent in April to 8.3 percent in July. The Birmingham metro's unemployment rate was unchanged at 7.9 percent in July, but has climbed from 5.9 percent in April.

In an interview, Norris talked about the issues he feels are hurting job growth in metro Birmingham and Alabama. He also talked about the growth of Oakworth Capital, which despite having no branch offices has seen assets grow from $37 million when founded in March 2008 to $230 million as of last week.