Monthly State Unemployment Rate Remains Stable at 2.8 Percent

Release Date: 10/20/2017

LINCOLN - The Nebraska Department of Labor (NDOL) announced today that Nebraska’s preliminary unemployment rate for September was 2.8 percent, seasonally adjusted. The rate remained unchanged from the August 2017 rate of 2.8 percent and is down 0.5 percentage points from the September 2016 rate of 3.3 percent.

“In September, the number of Nebraskans unemployed and looking for work fell to 27,800,” said Commissioner of Labor John H. Albin. “This is the lowest number of unemployed individuals in Nebraska since January of 2001 when 27,601 individuals were unemployed.”

Nonfarm employment was 1,033,320, up 14,285 over the year and up 3,751 over the month. Private industries with the most growth year over year were professional and business services (up 6,316), leisure and hospitality (up 2,754), and other services (up 2,020). Month to month, the largest gains were seen in education and health services (up 1,017); professional and business services (up 720); and mining and construction (up 679).

The national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for September was 4.2 percent, down 0.2 percentage points from the  August 2017 rate of 4.4 percent and down 0.7 percentage points from the September 2016 rate of 4.9 percent.

For more September data, go to dol.nebraska.gov/InfoLink.  Nonfarm employment data can be found at NEworks.nebraska.gov/CES and Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) data can be found at NEworks.nebraska.gov/LAUS.

October 2017 data is scheduled for release on Friday, November 17, 2017.