The Nebraska Department of Labor (NDOL) announced today that Nebraska’s preliminary unemployment rate for April was 3.0 percent, seasonally adjusted. The jobless rate is the same as the March rate and is up 0.1 percentage points from the April 2015 rate of 2.9 percent.

"Total unemployment claims declined by 28 percent compared to April 2015," said Commissioner of Labor John H. Albin. "The employment levels for education and health services, and leisure and hospitality reached new highs this month."

Nonfarm employment is up by 14,673 compared to last April. Private industries with the most growth year over year were education and health services (up 6,068), leisure and hospitality (up 5,026), and professional and business services (up 2,561). Month to month, the largest gains were seen in leisure and hospitality ( up 3,397); trade, transportation and utilities (up 2,030); and professional and business services (up 1,490).

The seasonally-adjusted national unemployment rate in April was 5.0 percent, unchanged from March and down 0.4 percentage points from the April 2015 rate of 5.4 percent.

May 2016 data will be published Friday, June 17.