CONCORD - The number of people with jobs rose in June for the fifth consecutive month, according to figures released Thursday by the state Department of Employment Security.

The 1,240 new jobs in June - the highest monthly increase in 2004 - brought the total number of jobs created this year to 2,740.

The new jobs helped lower the state’s preliminary seasonally adjusted unemployment rate by one-tenth of a point to 3.9 percent.

That is nearly 2 points lower than the national unemployment rate for June of 5.6 percent.

The June estimate of 698,980 employed residents represents an increase of 10,850 when compared to the same period last year.

“The additional jobs number is pretty good news. It’s on a par with the kinds of improvement we’ve been seeing,” said Dennis Delay, an economist with the Workforce Opportunity Council, which handles worker-retraining money for the state.

“You’re not going to see the kind of job growth we saw from the middle-to-late 1990s, but we’re adding gradually sector by sector.”

Anita Josten, a research analyst with the Department of Employment Security, said while the additional jobs number in June is “relatively small,” the fact that it continues to go up over the past few months shows that the economy is improving.

“I think things are looking real positive with gradual growth,” she said.

The June report also showed that the number of people unemployed dropped by 820 from May, and there were 2,150 fewer unemployed when compared to June 2003.

Josten said it is good news for the economy any time there are more people working and less people unemployed, no matter the size of the numbers.

Both Josten and Delay said there have been bigger increases in retail, services and the hospitality industries, which goes along with summertime tourism.

Last year at this time, the state’s unemployment rate stood at 4.2 percent.