LINCOLN - The Nebraska Department of Labor (NDOL) announced today that Nebraska’s preliminary unemployment rate for February 2024 is 2.5 percent, seasonally adjusted. The rate has remained unchanged for six straight months and is up 0.4 percentage points from the February 2023 rate of 2.1 percent. Nebraska was ranked fifth in the nation. National unemployment rate rankings are available here: bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm.   

“February saw a larger than normal increase in total nonfarm jobs growing by 11,322,” said Commissioner of Labor John H. Albin.  “This is the largest month to month increase for February going back to 1939.”

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 1,048,697 in February, up 11,322 over the month and 19,645 over the year.  Private industries with the most growth month to month were private education and health services (up 2,034 jobs), professional and business services (up 1,639 jobs) and leisure and hospitality (up 1,337 jobs). Private industries with the most over the year growth were private education and health services (up 7,059 jobs); trade, transportation, and utilities (up 3,460 jobs); and leisure and hospitality service (up 3,031 jobs).

The national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for February 2024 is 3.9 percent, up 0.2 percentage points from the January 2024 rate of 3.7 percent and up 0.3 percentage points from the February 2023 rate of 3.6 percent.

March 2024 preliminary and February 2024 revised labor force and nonfarm employment data will be released Friday, April 19, along with the labor force sub-state benchmarked data.

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