Unemployment rates continued to rise in December in Nebraska, reaching their highest levels in a year and a half.
According to data released Tuesday by the Nebraska Department of Labor, the state's unemployment rate last month was 2.6%. That was up from 2.5% in November and 2.3.% in December 2021. The last time the rate was that high was May 2021.
While the increase in the unemployment rate may be due in some part to people losing their jobs, it's also due to more people entering the workforce.
Compared with a year ago, there were about 2,800 more unemployed people in Nebraska in December, but there also were about 6,800 more people employed statewide.
The state also has 30,000 more filled jobs than it did a year ago, which Labor Commissioner John Albin said, "is the largest December-to-December growth since 1984.â€
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Nebraska continues to have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, ranking sixth among all the states. The national unemployment rate in December was 3.5%.
Creighton University Economist Ernie Goss said earlier this month that despite a rise in the unemployment rate, labor shortages remain an issue in Nebraska.
In his December Mid-America Economy survey, Goss noted that the labor participation rate in the state is still 0.2 percentage points lower than its pre-pandemic level.
"This indicates that currently 2,127 individuals in the state remain out of the workforce, thus contributing to the state’s labor shortage," Goss wrote.
Locally, the unemployment rate stayed steady compared with November, but it increased significantly from last year.
The December unemployment rate for the Lincoln Metropolitan Statistical Area was 2.1%, the same as November's rate but up from 1.6% in December 2021.
The Lincoln area had more than 1,000 more people listed as unemployed compared with a year ago, but it also had about 2,200 more people employed. The total number of jobs filled was up by nearly 4,500 over a year ago.