LINCOLN - Nebraska’s preliminary unemployment rate for January 2025 is 2.9 percent, seasonally adjusted. The rate was unchanged from the revised December 2024 rate of 2.9 percent and is up 0.3 percentage points from the January 2024 rate of 2.6 percent. Nebraska's rate is ranked fifth lowest in the nation. National unemployment rate rankings are available here: bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm.   

“Nebraska’s labor force grew by nearly 13,000 from January 2024 to January 2025,” said Commissioner of Labor Katie Thurber. “The number of employed workers increased by nearly 9,000 over the year.”

Nonfarm employment, a count of filled jobs, was 1,044,095 in January, down 21,615 over the month.  Private industries with the most growth month to month were other services (up 133 jobs) and information (up 41 jobs).  Benchmarked nonfarm employment data will be published on Mach 28, 2025, at which time comparisons to 2024 data will be available. 

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 January 2025 is 4.0 percent, down 0.1 percentage points from the December 2024 rate of 4.1 percent. The rate is up 0.3 percentage points from the January 2024 rate of 3.7 percent.

Data Release Schedule:

March 28, 2025: February 2024 preliminary and January 2024 revised labor force and non-farm employment data; annual Current Employment Statistics (CES) benchmark data.

April 18, 2025: March 2025 preliminary and February 2025 revised labor force and non-farm employment data; annual benchmarked Sub-state labor force 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.