.jpg)
LINCOLN — Nebraska’s latest monthly unemployment rate is 3% — unchanged from the previous month and showing a pattern that returns the rate more steadily to pre-COVID 19 pandemic levels.
According to May data released Tuesday, the preliminary state unemployment rate ticked up from the revised 2.7% rate for May 2024.
Prior to the pandemic, Nebraska’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was consistently around 3% then shot up above 8% during the pandemic before dropping to around 2% and then rising to the 3% mark in February.
According to other newly released labor data, Nebraska ranks No. 6 among states with the lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rates. The national rate for May 2025 is 4.2%, unchanged from the previous month and up from the 4.0% reported for May 2024.
Nebraska labor officials have said the higher unemployment rate of late appears to be driven by an increase in the state labor force. They said when a person begins searching for work, he or she is classified as unemployed until finding a job.
The Nebraska Department of Labor reports that the total number of filled nonfarm jobs reached a historic high in May, with 1,073,696 jobs.
“This surpasses the prior high in October of 2024 by over 5,000 filled jobs,” Nebraska Labor Commissioner Katie Thurber said in a Tuesday news release.
Private Nebraska industries with the most growth compared to the same month a year ago were private education and health services (up 6,599 jobs) and leisure and hospitality (up 4,217 jobs).
