Alabama jobless rate drops to 4.4%, still above 2019 level December 18, 2020 GMT MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.4% in November, a big improvement from earlier in the year when it nearly hit 13% but still above last year’s level, the state said Friday. The preliminary, seasonally adjust rate for last month was better than October’s revised rate of 5.7% but higher than the November 2019 level of 2.7%. The rate represented 100,537 unemployed people, according to a statement from the Alabama Department of Labor. Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington said it was “truly great news” to see the state jobless rate below 5% after such a turbulent year. The state jobless rate in April reached 12.9%, the worst in nearly four decades.