Nebraska had nation’s lowest unemployment rate in May

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Nebraska had the nation’s lowest unemployment rate in May after taking a big hit from the coronavirus pandemic, according to federal data released Friday.

The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.2% last month, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s down 3.5 percentage points from the rate of 8.7% in April, when unemployment soared due to coronavirus-related social-distancing restrictions.

Nebraska Labor Commissioner John Albion said the state’s data is more volatile because of the pandemic.

The national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for May was 13.3%, a decrease of 1.4 percentage points.

The second-lowest unemployment rate was in Utah, with 8.5% unemployed. Wyoming came in third, with 8.8%. The state with the highest seasonally adjusted unemployment was Nevada, with 25.3%.