Nebraska’s preliminary unemployment rate for September rose a tenth of a point to a seasonally adjusted 2.2%.
That’s 3-10ths of a point lower than last year and 1.3-points lower than the national rate for September of 3.5%.
Nebraska Commissioner of Labor John Albin says the jobless rate can be misleading since the state saw another large over-the-year increase in employment while the number of unemployed workers is down 2,000 from a year ago with an uptick in people re-entering the labor force.”
Over one million Nebraskans have been employed every month since August of 2020. Nonfarm employment, a count of filled jobs, was 1,034,979 in September, up 6,803 over the month and up 26,650 over the year.
Private industries with the most growth month to month were education and health services (up 1,286); trade, transportation, and utilities (up 461); and information (up 344).
Private industries with the most growth year to year were education and health services (up 5,229); professional and business services (up 5,150); and trade, transportation, and utilities (up 5,137).
The September unemployment rate for Lincoln was 1.9%, down 2-tenths of a point from August and the same as last year while the Omaha rate of 2.2% was a 3-tenths of a point improvement from August and 2-tenths from a year ago.
Grand Island came in at 2%, the same as 12 months earlier and 2-tenths better than August, while the Scottsbluff micropolitan statistical area had a jobless rate of 2.2%, down 3-tenths of a point from August but up a tenth from last year.
The state unemployment rate is adjusted for seasonal factors while the local rates are not, making comparisons between the two meaningless.
Good to see!