LINCOLN - The Nebraska Department of Labor (NDOL) announced today that Nebraska’s preliminary unemployment rate for April 2025 is 3.0 percent, seasonally adjusted. The rate is up 0.1 percentage points over the month and up 0.3 percentage points from the April 2024 rate of 2.7 percent. National unemployment rate rankings are available here: bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm.  

“Growth in Omaha and Lincoln continue to drive record high employment,” said Commissioner of Labor Katie Thurber. “The number of employed workers and the labor force as a whole have reached record highs for the fourth straight month.”          

The labor force includes both employed workers and those who are actively looking for work. 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, the number of filled jobs, was 1,063,415 in April, up 9,903 over the month and 5,727 over the year.  Private industries with the most growth month to month were leisure and hospitality (up 3,866 jobs); professional and business services (up 2,543 jobs); and mining and construction (up 1,604 jobs). Private industries with the most over the year growth were private education and health services (up 6,250 jobs); leisure and hospitality (up 1,005 jobs); and other services (up 821 jobs).

The national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for April 2025 is 4.2 percent, unchanged from the March 2025 rate and up 0.3 percentage points from the April 2024 rate of 3.9 percent.

May 2025 employment data will be published Tuesday, June 24. 

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