Alabama Department of Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington has announced Alabama’s preliminary, seasonally adjusted November unemployment rate is 4.4 percent, down from October’s revised rate of 5.7 percent but above November 2019’s rate of 2.7 percent. 

November’s rate represents 100,537 unemployed people across the state, compared to 127,425 in October and 61,381 in November 2019.

“As we are nearing the end of a definitively turbulent year, it’s truly great news to see our unemployment rate drop below 5 percent,” said Washington. “We’re not where we were prior to the pandemic, and it might take more time to get there, but we’re making progress.”

In Franklin County the unemployment rate came in at 2.5 percent for November as compared to 3.2 percent in October. That figure was 2.2 percent in November 2019.

“We’ve got more people working now than at any time since the pandemic started,” Washington said. “We remain dedicated to helping those who were impacted by the pandemic by helping them find jobs or get the training they need to start new careers.”

In Franklin County the 2.5 percent unemployment rate represents 396 unemployed people out of a 15,648-person labor force, according to the ADOL.