State unemployment rate drops slightly

California’s unemployment rate fell to 4.7 percent in May, as state businesses added approximately 17,600 jobs, according to data released Friday.

That equals the lowest jobless rate recorded in California since November 2000, the Employment Development Department reported in its monthly study of California’s job market.

The percentage was down slightly from April, when the state’s jobless rate was 4.8 percent.

However, the report was still an improvement in job growth because, in April, California lost jobs for the first time in several months.

On the negative side, California’s year-over-year economic growth was slower than the U.S. economy’s rate of growth.

“For the second month in a row California’s yearly growth rate dipped below the nation’s,” said Robert Kleinhenz, an economist at the Center for Economic Forecasting and Development at UC Riverside, in a statement.

“Our concern is that California’s job growth will be constrained because we are at full employment, we have insufficient numbers of qualified workers for certain positions, and rising housing costs are increasingly challenging for lower and middle income households.”

The national unemployment rate in May was 4.3 percent.