The Nebraska Department of Labor (NDOL) announced today that Nebraska’s preliminary unemployment rate for April was 2.8 percent, seasonally adjusted. The rate remained unchanged from the March 2018 rate of 2.8 percent and is down 0.1 percentage pointsfrom the April 2017 rate of 2.9 percent.

“In the last two months, manufacturing has reached pre-recession employment levels,” said Commissioner of Labor John H. Albin. "Manufacturing is an important component of Nebraska’s economy that accounts for nearly ten percent of nonfarm jobs."

Nonfarm employment was 1,026,608, up 7,532 over the year and up 9,737 over the month. Private industries with the most growth year over year were manufacturing (up 3,189), leisure and hospitality (up 3,055), and education and health services (up 1,829). Month to month, the largest gains were seen in were leisure and hospitality (up 3,709),mining and construction (up 3,518), and professional and business services (up 1,481).

The national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for April was 3.9 percent, down 0.2 percentage pointsfrom the March 2018 rate of 4.1 percent and down 0.5 percentage points from the April 2017 rate of 4.4 percent.

For more April 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.

May 2018 data is scheduled for release on Friday, June 15, 2018.