LINCOLN - The Nebraska Department of Labor (NDOL) announced today that Nebraska’s preliminary unemployment rate for September 2022 is 2.2 percent, seasonally adjusted. The rate is up 0.1 percentage points from the August 2022 rate and is down 0.3 percentage points from the September 2021 rate of 2.5 percent.  National unemployment rate rankings are available here: bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm.

“Nebraska saw another large over-the-year increase in employment in September,” said Commissioner of Labor John H. Albin. “The number of unemployed workers is down 2,000 compared to a year ago, and we continue to see an uptick in people re-entering the labor force.”

Over one million Nebraskans have been employed since August of 2020. 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.

Nonfarm employment, a count of filled jobs, was 1,034,979 in September, up 6,803 over the month and up 26,650 over the year.  Private industries with the most growth month to month were education and health services (up 1,286); trade, transportation, and utilities (up 461); and information (up 344).  Private industries with the most growth year to year were education and health services (up 5,229); professional and business services (up 5,150); and trade, transportation, and utilities (up 5,137). 

The national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for September 2022 is 3.5 percent, down 0.2 percentage points from the August 2022 rate and down 1.2 percentage points from the September 2021 rate of 4.7 percent.

October 2022 Nebraska labor force and employment data will be published Friday, November 18, 2022. 

Employers looking for qualified applicants are encouraged to post their jobs for free on NEworks.nebraska.gov and partner with their closest job center to take advantage of programs geared at recruiting, upskilling, and expanding their workforce.

More employment data is available at dol.nebraska.gov/INFOlink.  NDOL press releases are accessible here: dol.nebraska.gov/PressReleas