Unemployment rate has slight jump locally

The unemployment rate for Kimball and Banner counties showed a slight increase in December, according to numbers released Friday by the Nebraska Department of Labor.

In Kimball County, the December 2014 unemployment rate was 2.6 percent. That was a half a percentage rise from November’s revised rate of 2.1 percent. In real numbers, there were 50 unemployed people in Kimball in December, up from 41 in November. The unemployment rate for December 2013 was 3.4 percent.

The unemployment rate in Banner County rose over a percentage point from the November 2014 revised number to December 2014. The December rate was 2.7 percent comported to a 1.2 percent rate for November. In real numbers, Banner had 11 unemployed in December 2014, up from five unemployed in November 2014. The December 2013 rate was 3.4 percent.

The unemployment rate for the state in December 2014 was 2.9 percent, up from 2.5 percent in November 2014. According to Department of Labor numbers, the state lost 3,375 jobs from November to December. According to seasonally adjusted numbers released, the state actually gained 1,507 jobs from November to December, moving from an unemployment rate of 3.1 percent in November to 2.9 percent in December.

The December 2014 unemployment rate for the Panhandle Economic Region was 3.0 percent, an increase of a half percent from 2.5 percent in November 2014. The Panhandle Economic Region includes Banner, Box Butte, Cheyenne, Dawes, Deuel, Garden, Kimball, Morrill, Scotts Bluff, Sheridan and Sioux counties.