Unemployment Rate Slightly Higher
LINCOLN - The Nebraska Department of Labor (NDOL) announced today that Nebraska’s preliminary unemployment rate for February 2025 is 3.0 percent, seasonally adjusted. The rate is up 0.1 percentage points over the month and up 0.4 from the February 2024 rate of 2.6 percent. Nebraska's rate is tied for fifth lowest in the nation. National unemployment rate rankings are available here: bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm.
“Nebraska’s labor force reached 1,077,890 in February, a record high for the second straight month,” said Commissioner of Labor Katie Thurber. “Employment is up by 10,000 compared to a year ago.”
The counts of employed and unemployed in the labor force are based on a survey conducted by the Census Bureau regarding employment status. Both individuals who are claiming unemployment benefits and those who are not claiming can be counted as unemployed based on their survey responses. Individuals who are not working and are not seeking work are not considered part of the labor force and are not included in the unemployment rate calculation.
Nonfarm employment, a count of filled jobs, was 1,048,487 in February, up 4,754 over the month and 6,569 over the year. Private industries with the most growth month to month were private education and health services (up 1,399 jobs), manufacturing (up 665 jobs) and mining and construction (up 557 jobs). Private industries with the most over the year growth were private education and health services (up 5,889 jobs); mining and construction (up 1,803 jobs); and other services (up 1,144 jobs).
The national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for February 2025 is 4.1 percent, up 0.1 percentage point from the January 2025 rate of 4.0 percent and up 0.2 percentage points from the February 2024 rate of 3.9 percent.
Benchmarked nonfarm employment data is now available. March 2025 preliminary and February 2025 revised labor force and nonfarm employment data will be released Friday, April 18, along with the labor force sub-state benchmarked data.