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

“Total non-farm employment for May 2018 marks an all-time high for Nebraska,” said Commissioner of Labor John H. Albin. “Contributing to this growth were the Lincoln and Omaha metropolitan areas, which also reached historical highs.”

Nonfarm employment for May was 1,039,557, up 12,760 over the year and up 13,162 over the month. Private industries with the most growth year over year were manufacturing (up 3,539), leisure and hospitality (up 3,442) and professional and business services (up 2,857). Month to month, the largest gains were seen in mining and construction (up 3,525); trade, transportation and utilies (up 3,378); and leisure and hospitality (up 2,736).

The national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for May was 3.8 percent, down 0.1 percentage points from the April 2018 rate of 3.9 percent and down 0.5 percentage points from the May 2017 rate of 4.3 percent.

For more May 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.

June 2018 data is scheduled for release on Friday, July 20, 2018.