State Unemployment Rate Unchanged in October

Release Date: 11/19/2019

The Nebraska Department of Labor (NDOL) announced today that Nebraska’s preliminary unemployment rate for October was 3.1 percent, seasonally adjusted. The rate was unchanged from the September 2019 rate of 3.1 percent.  The unemployment rate is up 0.4 percentage points from the October 2018 rate of 2.7 percent. 

"Nebraska’s non-seasonally adjusted nonfarm job count reached a record high in October, as did nonfarm employment in Omaha and Lincoln," said Commissioner of Labor John H. Albin.  "Nebraska also saw the largest seasonally adjusted non-farm employment increase of any state from September to October."

Nonfarm employment was 1,045,902 in October, up by 17,345 over the year and up by 9,437 over the month. Private industries with the most growth year over year were mining and construction (up 3,940), leisure and hospitality (up 3,415), and professional and business services (up 1,858).  Month to month, the largest gains were seen in trade, transportation and utilities (up 2,359), education and health (up 1,383), and mining and construction (up 992).

The national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for October was 3.6 percent, up by 0.1 percentage points from the September 2019 rate of 3.5 percent and down 0.2 percentage points from the October 2018 rate of 3.8 percent.

For more October 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.

November 2019 Nebraska data will be published Friday, December 20, 2019.