Unemployment rate improves locally

The unemployment rate for both Kimball and Banner counties improved from September to October, the Nebraska Department of Labor announced in numbers released last Friday.

The October unemployment rate for Kimball County was 2.6 percent, a slight improvement from 3.0 percent in September. The rate is also lower than a year ago, when Kimball County had a 3.4 percent unemployment rate in October 2013.

In Kimball County for October, there were 1,911 employed out of 1,962 in the labor force. That left just 51 unemployed who would have like to have been employed. There were 59 unemployed in September out of a labor force of 1,960.

The Banner County unemployment rate fell 2.1 percent, falling to 1.5 percent in October after a 3.6 percent unemployment rate in September. The rate is also an improvement from a year ago when Banner County had a 2.9 percent unemployment rate in October 2013.

Looking at the specific numbers reported, Banner County had employed 403 of its 409 residents seeking work in October. In September, those numbers were 398 of its 413 residents seeking work.

Statewide, Nebraska had an unemployment rate of 3.4 percent in October, and improvement of 0.2 percent from September. Nationwide, the unemployment rate is 5.8 percent, an improvement of 0.1 percent from September.

In the Panhandle Economic Region, which includes Banner, Box Butte, Cheyenne, Dawes, Deuel, Garden, Kimball, Morrill, Scotts Bluff, Sheridan and Sioux counties, the unemployment rate was 2.6 percent in October. That is down from 3.1 percent in September. The region’s unemployment rate was 3.4 percent in October 2013.

Statewide in October, there were 986,955 employed citizens and 34,417 that are unemployed. Those unemployed in September were 36,267.