A building at Apple’s new campus in Cupertino. The company this... Thanks to stronger-than-expected job growth, California’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.3 percent in December, a record low since the state starting tracking it this way in 1976. The rate represents a significant drop from 4.6 percent in November and 5.2 percent in December last year, the Employment Development Department said in a press release. California has narrowed the gap between its unemployment rate and the U.S.