The Nebraska Department of Labor (NDOL) announced today that Nebraska’s preliminary unemployment rate for July was 3.1 percent, seasonally adjusted. The rate increased by 0.1 percentage points from the June 2019 rate of 3.0 percent. The unemployment rate is up 0.4 percentage points from the July 2018 rate of 2.7 percent.

"The number of employed workers statewide increased again, with July being the seventh straight month of historically high employment,” said Commissioner of Labor John H. Albin. "Nebraska’s labor force participation rate, which measures the proportion of individuals working or looking for work, increased 0.7 percentage points from January to July and is one of the highest in the nation at 69.8 percent.”

Nonfarm employment was 1,031,545 in July, up by 6,771 over the year and down by 9,526 over the month. Private industries with the most growth year over year were mining and construction (up 1,704), leisure and hospitality (up 1,655), and education and health (up 1,221). Month to month, the largest gains were seen in trade, transportation and utilities (up 628), other services (up 297) and mining and construction (282).

The national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for July was 3.7 percent, unchanged from the June 2019 rate of 3.7 percent and down 0.2 percentage points from the July 2018 rate of 3.9 percent.

For more July 2019 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. August 2019 Nebraska data will be published Friday, September 20.