Nebraska’s unemployment rate remained steady in January. The Nebraska Department of Labor Commissioner Catherine Lang says this is a point-five drop over January of 2009. Lang says they do take into account seasonal position such as the holidays and construction jobs. Seasonally adjusted employment is adjusted out of that number.
Lang says we did see a drop in retail jobs in January due to lay-offs after the holiday season. She says this is a typical trend and is actually good news. The department was concerned that the retail sector would not hire extra people to assist with the holiday season due to the economy. That was not the case and that is why the retail sector saw a drop in employment in January.
The report shows two private industry sectors that did experience job growth during the month of January. Education and Health Services added nearly 55-hundred positions and repair and maintenance over 100 positions. Additionally, there was a large decrease in jobs related to leisure and hospitality.
The non-seasonal adjusted rate for Nebraska came in at 5.5-percent. The national rate for the same time period is 9.7-percent.
