NEBRASKA /A.P. NEWS
NEB UNEMPLOYMENT STEADY IN JAN
By John Axtell
Mar 10, 2010 - 3:26:42 PM

     Nebraska's unemployment rate in January was unchanged from December's adjusted rate at 4.6%. While that's a half-point higher than a year ago, it's less than half of the national rate for January of 9.7%...which was a full 2 percentage points over a year ago.

      The unemployment rates for Lincoln and Omaha dropped much more sharply than the overall rate for Nebraska, but the local rates aren't adjusted for seasonal factors the way the state numbers are...making direct comparisons meaningless.

     Still, Omaha's preliminary rate for January was 4.8%...down 1.2 percentage points from December and 9-10ths of a point from a year...while the Lincoln rate of 3.9% was 1.1-points lower than December and 4-10ths of a point below last January.

     Things weren't as positive outside the state's major metropolitan areas. Figures from Nebraska's 11 "micropolitan statistical areas"...the larger trade centers such as Kearney, North Platte, Columbus, and Scottsbluff...showed jobless rates going up in 7 of them and staying the same as in December.

     The Scottsbluff micropolitan area...comprised of Scotts Bluff and Banner counties...had a January unemployment rate of 6.4% or 8-10ths of a point higher than in December. Those figures, like those for Lincoln and Omaha, can't be directly compared to the state rates.

     Only two segments of the Nebraska economy had more jobs in January than they did a year earlier. Education and health services added nearly 5,500 jobs over the 12 months while the "other services" category covering repair and maintenance had 113 more jobs statewide than the year before.

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