New Hampshire’s unemployment rate dropped below the 5 percent mark for the first time in two and a half years last month. Nearly 2,000 residents found work in April, according to the latest jobs report.

Gov. John Lynch’s office announced that the state’s unemployment rate for April was 4.9 percent, the lowest it has dipped since December 2008. The rate dropped from 5.2 percent in March. New Hampshire’s unemployment rate remains one of the lowest in the nation, 45 percent below the national average of 9 percent.

Lynch touted the latest numbers in a press release and took a thinly veiled shot at Republicans in the Legislature, warning against drastic changes to the state’s economic strategy. The governor cited his New Hampshire Working jobs program for helping to stimulate the economy. He recently signed Senate Bill 62, which expands the program to workers who have exhausted their unemployment benefits.

“New Hampshire is one of the most business-friendly states in the nation, with the lowest state taxes, and we must continue to follow the principles of our strategy if we are to continue moving New Hampshire forward,” Lynch said.

Republicans, too, sought to take credit for the latest numbers, noting that the state’s unemployment rate has fallen by .6 percent since they took control of the Legislature.

Although New Hampshire’s unemployment rate has been among the lowest in the nation throughout the national recession, House majority leader D.J. Bettencourt (R-Salem) blamed Democrats for keeping the rate high with four years of taxing and spending. He said businesses have begun hiring because of Republican-sponsored legislation.

“It is clear that, through the passage of pro-business legislation, which included 30 bills that cut regulations on small business, employers are now showing the confidence to hire new workers and expand our economy,” Bettencourt said.