Orange County’s unemployment rate dropped below 4 percent in November, for the first time in more than six years.

That’s according to the latest data from the NC Department of Commerce. Orange County’s unemployment rate dropped slightly, from 4 percent in October to 3.9 percent last month. It had previously hit 4 percent this past April before rising again in the summer; the last time our unemployment rate was this low was in April of 2008, just before the Great Recession.

See a graph of Orange County’s monthly unemployment rate dating back to 1990.

The numbers are not seasonally adjusted, so it’s better to compare from year to year rather than month to month. Last November, Orange County’s unemployment rate was 4.4 percent; it’s dropped by half a percentage point in the last 12 months.

Statewide, there are three counties with unemployment rates below 4 percent: Orange, Chatham, and Buncombe. Chatham has the lowest rate, 3.7 percent; Graham County still has the highest rate, 11.4. (Graham is one of two counties with a double-digit unemployment rate; the other is Scotland County.)

According to the DOC, there are 2,840 unemployed Orange County residents – but that number does not include people who are underemployed, people whose unemployment benefits have expired, or people who have dropped out of the workforce entirely.

The statewide unemployment rate for December is due out on January 27.

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