LINCOLN- Despite the fact that it's still down from where it was a year ago, Nebraska's unemployment rate continued to climb in October. The state's rate sat at 2.2% last month, according to the Nebraska Department of Labor, up slightly from September's 2.1% but down from 2.7% in October 2022.

Despite rising, Nebraska's unemployment rate ranked sixth nationally, and continued to be significantly lower than the national average of 3.9%. The top-performing categories on a year-over-year basis were private education and health services, which added more than 4,000 jobs over the past year and reached an all-time high of more than 163,000 last month.

However, the number of people working statewide fell by 1,894 between September and October. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss, in his Rural Main Street Index for November, indicated that Nebraska is underperforming in the 10-state region as a whole. The index for Nebraska sank to 39.7 this month, its lowest reading since June 2020, which Goss said "points to weaker farm and non-farm economies."

For the full article click HERE