      Nebraska’s preliminary unemployment rate for December remained the same as in November at 2.3%.
That’s 4-10ths of a point lower than a year ago and is the 5th-lowest jobless rate in the country. The national rate of 3.7% was also unchanged from November.
The rate for December in Omaha was 2.4%, up a tenth for the month and down a tenth for the year, while Lincoln came in at 2.1%, the same as a year ago and 2-10ths higher than in November.
Grand Island had a jobless rate of 2.3%, 3-10ths of a point above the previous month and 1-10th lower than in 2022. The Scottsbluff Micropolitan Statistical Area’s rate of 2.6% was 3-10ths higher than November and 3-10ths lower than a year ago.
State unemployment rates consider seasonal factors while local rates do not, making comparisons between the two meaningless.
Nebraska Labor Commissioner John Albin sees lots of positives in the December report, especially that employment in private education and health services reached a new all-time high for the fourth straight month in December at over 166,000.
Albin says manufacturing employment also saw another monthly increase while total statewide nonfarm employment rose by more than 11,000 over the previous 12 months.
Nonfarm employment, a count of filled jobs, did drop 925 from Nov to Dec at 1,054,500 but that’s still up 11,473 over the year.
The private industry sectors with the most job growth month to month were trade, transportation, and utilities (up 2,441 jobs) and private education and health services (up 801 jobs),
Sectors with the most job growth over the previous 12 months were private education and health services (up 7,619 jobs), leisure and hospitality (up 2,371 jobs), and trade, transportation, and utilities (up 2,308 jobs).