Nebraska continues record run of low unemployment rates
Nebraska, again, lowers its own record for America’s lowest unemployment rate. Minnesota’s rate returns to pre-pandemic level, but lags neighboring states.
In data released for December, Nebraska again recorded the nation’s lowest unemployment rate since record-keeping began in 1976, lowering its own record to 1.7 percent. Utah was not far behind at 1.9 percent.
Last week, unemployment figures were released for the state of Minnesota, showing a December unemployment rate of 3.1 percent. At 3.1 percent, Minnesota is back to the pre-pandemic level of December 2019 and well below the national rate of 3.9 percent.
Only eleven states have unemployment rates below Minnesota’s. Two of the eleven are neighbors: South Dakota and Wisconsin. Utah, at 1.9 percent, joins Nebraska with an unemployment rate below 2 percent. Even with so many states showing rock bottom unemployment rates, the national labor force participation rate, at 61.9 percent, remains well below the pre-pandemic level of 63.4 percent.