RALEIGH (AP) — North Carolina’s unemployment rate for July was 4.7 percent, slightly lower than the month before and a percentage point less than the same month a year earlier.

This marks the second month in a row that North Carolina’s unemployment has been less than 5 percent; in June, it was 4.9 percent. The national rate remained unchanged at 4.9 percent.

The figures released Friday by the state Commerce Department show the number of people employed decreased more than 13,000 to 4.6 million from June. The number of people employed has increased more than 114,000 since July 2015.

The number of people unemployed decreased almost 13,000 over the month to almost 226,000. The figure decreased more than 47,000 over the year.