July 17, 2020

LINCOLN - The Nebraska Department of Labor (NDOL) announced today that Nebraska’s preliminary unemployment rate for June is 6.7 percent, seasonally adjusted. The rate is up 1.4 percentage points from the revised May 2020 rate of 5.3 percent and is up 3.6 percentage points from the June 2019 rate of 3.1 percent. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has temporarily suspended the data smoothing process in all states, which has contributed to greater volatility in the reported month over month changes.

“While we are seeing continued fluctuation in the labor market, Nebraska’s economy has shown more stability than other states since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic,” said Commissioner of Labor John H. Albin.  “We continue to assist businesses in utilizing Short-Time Compensation plan to help avoid permanent layoffs and provide partial unemployment benefits to their workers.”

While Nebraska’s employment statistics have seen a lot of movement during the coronavirus pandemic, Nebraska’s labor force participation rate has consistently stayed one of the highest in the nation.

June preliminary total nonfarm employment (number of jobs) was 982,024, down by 52,852 over the year and up by 17,293 over the month. The only private industry with growth year over year was mining and construction (up 1,116).  Month to month, the largest gains were seen in trade, transportation, and utilities (up 8,380), leisure and hospitality (up 7,620), and other services (up 1,364).

The national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for June is 11.1 percent, a decrease of 2.2 percentage points from the May 2020 rate of 13.3 percent and up 7.4 percentage points from the June 2019 rate of 3.7 percent.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) issued the following statement regarding claims data and unemployment estimates:

“Data users must be cautious about trying to compare or reconcile the UI claims data with the official unemployment figures gathered through the household survey. The unemployment data derived from the household survey in no way depend upon the eligibility for or receipt of UI benefits. In some cases, UI claims data exclude people who would be identified as unemployed in the household survey, like new entrants to the labor force with no prior work experience. In other cases, UI data may include individuals who do not meet the CPS definition of unemployment.”

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on employment and unemployment data can be found on the BLS website www.bls.gov/bls/bls-covid-19-questions-and-answers.htm  

July 2020 Nebraska data will be published Friday, August 21, 2020.

More NDOL press releases are accessible here: https://dol.nebraska.gov/PressRelease