Nebraska’s March 2025 Unemployment Rate is 2.9 Percent

LINCOLN - The Nebraska Department of Labor (NDOL) announced today that Nebraska’s preliminary unemployment rate for March 2025 is 2.9 percent, seasonally adjusted. The rate is down 0.1 percentage points over the month and up 0.3 from the March 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 continues to grow, reaching a record high of over 1,080,000 in March,” said Commissioner of Labor Katie Thurber. “The number of employed workers in the labor force also reached a new high statewide, driven by record highs in the Omaha and Lincoln metro areas.”

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 1,054,046 in March, up 6,134 over the month and 3,441 over the year.  Private industries with the most growth month to month were trade, transportation and utilities (up 1,843 jobs), leisure and hospitality (up 1,715 jobs) and mining and construction (up 1,492 jobs). Private industries with the most over the year growth were public education and health services (up 6,614 jobs); mining and construction (up 1,086 jobs); and other services (up 704 jobs).

The national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for March 2025 is 4.2 percent, up 0.1 percentage point from the February 2025 rate of 4.1 percent and up 0.3 percentage points from the March 2024 rate of 3.9 percent.

April 2025 preliminary and March 2025 revised labor force and nonfarm employment data will be released Wednesday, May 21. Labor force sub-state benchmarked data is now available. 

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