LINCOLN - The Nebraska Department of Labor (NDOL) announced today that Nebraska’s preliminary unemployment rate for December 2022 is 2.6 percent, seasonally adjusted. The rate is up 0.1 percentage points from the November 2022 rate of 2.5 percent and is up 0.3 percentage points from the December 2021 rate of 2.3 percent. National unemployment rate rankings are available here: bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm.   

“Nebraska has seen a 3 percent increase of nearly 31,000 nonfarm jobs over the year,” said Commissioner of Labor John H. Albin. “This is the largest December to December growth since 1984.”

December’s nonfarm employment is down 1,301 over the month and up 30,880 over the year. Private industries with the most growth month to month were financial activities (up 1,088); manufacturing (up 440); and trade, transportation, and utilities (up 363). Private industries with the most growth year to year were mining and construction (up 6,481); leisure and hospitality (up 5,041); and trade, transportation, and utilities (up 3,933).

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.

The national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for December 2022 is 3.5 percent. This rate is down 0.1 percentage points from the November 2022 rate of 3.6 percent and down 0.4 percentage points from the December 2021 rate of 3.9 percent.

Due to the annual data benchmarking revision process, January 2023 Nebraska labor force and employment data will be published Monday, March 13, 2023. February 2022 data will be published Friday, March 24, 2023.

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/PressRelease