Nebraska unemployment rate ticks upward as national rate drops slightly

OMAHA — Of Nebraska’s private industries, job growth was greatest in the past year for construction and hospitality fields, according to an update from the State Department of Labor.

Labor Commissioner John Albin said Tuesday that Nebraska, overall, has seen about 30,000 non-farm jobs added in a year’s time.

“This is the largest December to December growth since 1984,” he said.

Adjusted for the season, Nebraska’s preliminary unemployment rate for December is 2.6%.

That is up from 2.5% the month before, and 2.3% the year before. Two years ago, the state’s unemployment rate had fallen below 2%.

While the state unemployment rate ticked up slightly, the national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate went down from 3.6% to 3.5% the month before. A year ago December, the national rate was 3.9%.

The Nebraska labor update released Tuesday showed about 1.03 million people employed. Private industries with the most job growth compared to the month before were in the financial field, then manufacturing, then the category of trade, transportation and utilities.

When comparing this past December to the previous December, top job growth was in construction and mining (up about 6,500); hospitality and leisure (up about 5,000) and trade, transportation and utilities (up nearly 4,000.)

The counts are based on an employment status survey conducted by the Census Bureau. Both individuals who are claiming unemployment benefits and those who are not can be counted as unemployed, depending on how they respond to the survey.

Those who are not working and not seeking work are not considered part of the labor force and are not included in the unemployment rate calculation.