The state’s unemployment rate has dropped significantly to 5.7 per cent after another 2000 South Australians found jobs in May.

SA’s seasonally-adjusted rate dropped 0.4 per cent in May, to 5.7 per cent, according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday.

The drop means SA now has the third-lowest unemployment rate in the nation behind Victoria and NSW – a significant turnaround from last month when SA had the equal second-highest rate in the nation.

The national unemployment rate has remained steady at 5.2 per cent.

While the number of South Australians in work rose to 857,400, the number looking for work but unable to find any dropped slightly to 53,100.

The bulk of new South Australians in jobs found part-time work, with just 100 more in full-time work than they were last month,

Innovation and Skills Minister David Pisoni welcomed the figures.

‘“These are encouraging jobs figures for South Australia, but we know that there is much work to be done to ensure the SA economy continues to grow and even more jobs are created,” he said.

Property Council of SA executive director Daniel Gannon, pictured, said SA needed to use May’s figures as “a benchmark and continue rising up the national jobs ladder”.

“If we can grow our population by bringing more skilled migrants and significant investors into South Australia, our jobs horizon will brighten and our school leavers will have more meaningful career opportunities,” he said.

Master Builders Association policy and communications director Will Frogley said the state’s economy has shown “extraordinary resilience”.

“It’s not that long ago some analysts were predicting a double digit unemployment rate in the wake of Holden’s closure,” he said.

Labor employment spokesman Tom Koutsantonis said it was “promising” to see the headline unemployment figure head down towards the level it was at the 2018 state election.

However, it was concerning to see this improvement off the back of “growth in part-time work, at the expense of full-time work”, he said.

“What we don’t want to see is more budget cuts next week, which could push the unemployment rate up,” he said.