The Nebraska Department of Labor (NDOL) announced today that Nebraska’s preliminary unemployment rate for January 2022 is 2.2 percent, seasonally adjusted. The rate is down 0.1 percentage points from the revised December 2021 rate of 2.3 percent. The national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January 2022 is 4.0 percent, up 0.1 percentage points from the December 2021 rate of 3.9 percent.

“Nebraska’s labor force grew slightly from December to January, and the number of unemployed workers declined by over 1,000 from December 2021 to January 2022,” said commissioner of Labor John H. Albin.  “Employment increased by over 2,700 over that same period.”

On March 2, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released 2021 annual average unemployment rates and revised monthly statewide rates for every state. Significant revisions were seen nationwide. More details are available at https://www.bls.gov/lau/. Nebraska was tied with Utah for the lowest annual unemployment rate in 2021. Monthly national unemployment rate rankings are available here: https://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm.

The counts of employed and unemployed in the labor force are based on a survey conducted by the Census Bureau regarding employment status.  Both individuals who are claiming unemployment benefits and those who are not claiming can be counted as unemployed based on their survey responses.  Individuals who are not working and are not seeking work are not considered part of the labor force and are not included in the unemployment rate calculation.

There were 1,032,820 employed workers in Nebraska’s labor force in January, up 2,742 from December. Private industries with the most growth month to month in non-farm employment (filled jobs) were manufacturing (up 1,235 jobs) and information (up 46 jobs). The manufacturing industry grew to over 100,900 in January, with most of the gain in employment coming from the Omaha area. Benchmarked nonfarm employment data will be published on March 25, 2022, at which time comparisons to 2021 data will be available.

February 2022 preliminary labor force data and statewide benchmarked labor force data for 2017-2021 will be published Friday, March 25, 2022. Benchmarked sub-state labor force data for 2017-2021 will be published April 15, 2022. Benchmarking is the BLS’ annual revision process that incorporates the latest available data. More information is available at https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/topic/benchmarking.htm.
 

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