Nebraska’s May 2025 Unemployment Rate is 3.0 Percent

The Nebraska Department of Labor (NDOL) announced today that Nebraska’s preliminary unemployment rate for May 2025 is 3.0 percent, 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: bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm. 

 “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 (up 6,234 jobs); mining and construction (up 1,791 jobs); and private education and health services (up 836 jobs). Private industries with the most over the year growth were private education and health services (up 6,599 jobs); leisure and hospitality (up 4,217 jobs); and other services (up 1,408 jobs).

The labor force includes both employed workers and those who are actively looking for work. 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.

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

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

Employers looking for qualified applicants are encouraged to post their jobs for free on NEworks.nebraska.gov and partner with their closest job center to take advantage of programs geared at recruiting, upskilling, and expanding their workforce.

More employment data is available at dol.nebraska.gov/INFOlink.  NDOL press releases are accessible here: dol.nebraska.gov/PressRelease