California’s unemployment rate increased slightly in December, the first uptick in months, while non-farm payroll jobs increased by 60,400, according to state Employment Development Department figures released Friday.

The December rate was 5.8 percent, up from 5.7 percent in November but still well below the 7.1 percent rate a year earlier, the department said.

The last uptick in what has been a downward trend in the unemployment rate was in May, when the rate edged up to 6.4 percent before returning to 6.3 the following month.

A federal survey of households estimated the number of Californians holding jobs in December was 17.9 million, a decrease of 10,000 from November, but up 334,000 from December 2014, the department said.

A survey of California businesses found there were more than 16.3 million non-farm jobs, an increase of 60,400 month-to-month and 459,400 year over year.

That increase brought to nearly 2.2 million the number of jobs gained in the recovery since February 2010, when the state’s unemployment rate was at a recession-era high of 12.4 percent.

Jobs were added last month across 10 categories ranging from construction and manufacturing to professional and business services. The latter category posted the biggest increase, 15,800 jobs. Mining and logging reported a loss of 100 jobs.

The Employment Development Department also said there were 393,350 people receiving regular unemployment insurance benefits during December, compared to 355,913 in November and 436,034 in December 2014. New claims totaled 53,248 last month, down from 54,438 in November. New claims totaled 47,858 in December 2014.