(RALEIGH) -- North Carolina's April jobless rate dropped to 9.4 percent.  This continued a decline for each month this year.

“Since January of 2010, our rate has dropped by two full percentage points and employers have added more than 100,000 jobs,” said N.C. Department of Commerce Deputy Secretary Dale Carroll.

The drop represents a full percentage point drop since December 2011.  The April rate is .3 percent better than the revised March rate.

The number of people unemployed decreased in April by 12,686 to 439,368. The sector with the largest month over month increase was Professional & Business Services, which gained 3,600 jobs.