DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa’s unemployment rate has dropped below 5 percent in November for the first time in nearly four years. Iowa Workforce Development reported Friday that the unemployment rate dipped to 4.9 percent, down from 5.1 percent in October. The November rate was a decline from the 5.6 percent rate last year.  Iowa’s rate is significantly lower than the national November figure of 7.7 percent.

Workforce Development says there were 80,400 unemployed Iowans in November.