The Nebraska Department of Labor (NDOL) announced today that Nebraska’s preliminary unemployment rate for May was 2.9 percent, seasonally adjusted. The rate declined 0.1 percentage points from the April 2017 rate of 3.0 percent and is down 0.3 percentage points from the May 2016 rate of 3.2 percent. The preliminary monthly figure of 2.9% is the first time the monthly rate has dropped below 3% since March of 2015.

“Nebraska continues to see a steady increase in job growth,” said Commissioner of Labor John H. Albin. “The state and all three metropolitan areas showed job increases both month to month and year to year for May and the total number of nonfarm jobs in May is the highest monthly total on record.”

Nonfarm employment was 1,035,008, up 12,125 over the year and up 10,664 over the month. Private industries with the most growth year over year were professional and business services (up 3,217); trade, transportation and utilities (up 2,351); and financial activities (up 2,251). Month to month, the largest gains were seen in leisure and hospitality (up 2,847); trade, transportation and utilities (up 2,140); and professional and business services (up 1,005).

The national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for May was 4.3 percent, down 0.1 percentage points from the April 2017 rate of 4.4 percent and down 0.4 percentage points from the May 2016 rate of 4.7 percent. For more May data, go to dol.nebraska.gov/InfoLink. Nonfarm employment data can be found at NEworks.nebraska.gov/CES and Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) data can be found at NEworks.nebraska.gov/LAUS.

June 2017 data is scheduled for release on Friday, July 21.