City jobless rate hits four-year low

New York City's unemployment rate ticked down to 8.4% last month, marking a four-year low in the number of jobless residents.

State data for April released Thursday showed that New York City added 36,500 private- and public-sector jobs from March to April, causing the unemployment rate to drop from 8.9% in March.

Meanwhile, New York City added 82,000 private sector jobs in the 12-month period before April.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg welcomed the job numbers as a sign of an improving city economy.

"There are currently more private-sector jobs here than at any point in our history, and we are growing more robustly than the rest of the country," he said in a statement. "Today's numbers are further proof that New York City has firmly established itself as a national leader in economic recovery."

Around the state, industries that saw the biggest job gains in the last year include educational and health services (43,100 jobs added) and professional and business services (39,900 jobs added).