ATLANTA (AP) — State officials say Georgia's unemployment rate has dropped to 7.2 percent.

The Georgia Department of Labor on Thursday announced the new figure, which is the seasonally adjusted jobless rate for November.

State officials say the new rate represents what they call a significant drop.

State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said it's the largest monthly rate decline seen in Georgia since 1976.

Georgia's unemployment rate remains above the national rate, which remained unchanged at 5.8 percent in November.

Butler said in a statement that Georgia employers added 23,400 new jobs in November for a total of about 4.17 million.

Labor officials said most of the job growth came in trade, transportation and warehousing, areas where 16,000 jobs were created primarily because of holiday hiring.