OMAHA - Nebraska's economy has been devastated by the coronavirus outbreak and unemployment has surged, but the state has fared better than most of the rest of the nation.

Nebraska’s April unemployment rate was 8.3%. While that is not an optimal number, it is still markedly lower than the nation’s average of 14.7%. Nebraska's unemployment rate was the third-lowest in the country. One reason for the low unemployment rate is that Nebraska’s economy is not dependent on tourism or oil.

The Journal Star furthers that the insurance, banking, and government sectors have largely been spared job losses. Unemployment figures show that only about 1 in every 50 workers in those sectors have lost their jobs. In contrast, the downturn from the virus outbreak contributed to the loss of roughly 1 in every 4 service jobs.

Some companies in the state have said that they may end up increasing the number of employees by the year’s end.

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts was one of only seven governors who never issued a statewide stay-at-home order shutting down all nonessential businesses. Instead, he imposed restrictions on a regional basis throughout the state based on the number of infections and hospitalizations in each area.

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