By: Cindy Gonzalez - Nebraska Examiner
Nebraska’s latest monthly unemployment rate is 3% — unchanged from the previous month and showing a pattern that returns the rate more steadily to pre-COVID 19 pandemic levels.
According to May data released Tuesday, the preliminary state unemployment rate ticked up from the revised 2.7% rate for May 2024.
Prior to the pandemic, Nebraska’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was consistently around 3% then shot up above 8% during the pandemic before dropping to around 2% and then rising to the 3% mark in February.
According to other newly released labor data, Nebraska ranks No. 6 among states with the lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rates. The national rate for May 2025 is 4.2%, unchanged from the previous month and up from the 4.0% reported for May 2024.
Nebraska labor officials have said the higher unemployment rate of late appears to be driven by an increase in the state labor force. They said when a person begins searching for work, he or she is classified as unemployed until finding a job.
The Nebraska Department of Labor reports that the total number of filled nonfarm jobs reached a historic high in May, with 1,073,696 jobs.
“This surpasses the prior high in October of 2024 by over 5,000 filled jobs,” Nebraska Labor Commissioner Katie Thurber said in a Tuesday news release.
Private Nebraska industries with the most growth compared to the same month a year ago were private education and health services (up 6,599 jobs) and leisure and hospitality (up 4,217 jobs).
Numbers of employed and unemployed people in the labor force are based on a U.S. Census Bureau survey that asks a person’s employment status.
The labor force includes both employed workers and those actively looking for work. Those not working or seeking a job are not considered part of the labor force and are held out of the unemployment rate calculation.