County unemployment rate up slightly

The unemployment rate in Cheyenne County rose slightly in October, to 2.3 percent.

According to preliminary data recently released by the Nebraska Department of Labor, that's a 0.2 percent increase from September and up 0.4 percent from last October.

Statewide, the jobless rate stands at a seasonally-adjusted 2.9 percent – unchanged from September and down 0.2 percentage points from October 2014.

"October was another month of strong job growth for our state," Commissioner of Labor John Albin said in a media release. "The increase in total non-farm employment is above the average increase for the last five years."

Nonfarm employment in Nebraska for October was up 12,116 jobs over the same time last year, according to the data.

"Private industries with the most growth year-over-year were education and health services (up 5,655), financial activities (up 2,156) and other services (up 1,852)," the release states. "Month-to-month, the largest gains were seen in trade, transportation and utilities (up 3,603), professional and business services (up 2,634) and education and health services (up 2,464."

Statewide, the total labor force is slightly more than 1 million, of which 980,000 are employed.

Both the state and county unemployment rates are significantly less than the national jobless rate of 5 percent.

November state unemployment data will be released on Dec. 18.