Nebraska’s May unemployment rate remains unchanged

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - The Nebraska Department of Labor announced Tuesday that the state’s preliminary unemployment rate for May is 3.0%, seasonally adjusted.

The rate is unchanged over the month and up 0.3 percentage points from the May 2024 rate of 2.7 percent. National unemployment rate rankings are available here.

“Total nonfarm employment has reached a historic high in May (1,073,696),” said Commissioner of Labor Katie Thurber. “This surpasses the prior high in October of 2024 by over 5,000 filled jobs.”

Nonfarm employment, the number of filled jobs, was 1,073,696 in May, up 11,512 over the month and 7,156 over the year.

Private industries with the most growth month to month were leisure and hospitality, mining and construction, and private education and health services.

Private industries with the most over the year growth were private education and health services, leisure and hospitality, and other services.

The national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for May 2025 is 4.2%, unchanged from the April 2025 rate and up 0.2 percentage points from the May 2024 rate of 4.0%.

June 2025 employment data will be published Friday, July 18.

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