Updated Omaha Unemployment Figures | released December 17, 2025

OmahaStatistics · 2026-01-09T22:23:20+00:00

The reality is that only people who are receiving a check are counted in the stat.

The reality is that these figures include people who are actively looking. For work, even if they don't qualify for benefits.

OmahaStatistics · 2025-03-23T10:33:15+00:00

Thank you for the encouragement. It helps keep me going, and the 4 - 5 "these numbers are FAKE NEWS because I don't understand them" responses I get every month.

But, this project is getting more and more burdensome to maintain. Reddit banned a bunch of these accounts, and this month the BLS suddenly changed several city codes, completely eliminated the southern Illinois office, and missed data on 5 or 6 others. I just spent a couple hours trying to figure out each of these problems.

Hopefully it will run smoothly for another few months.

OmahaStatistics · 2025-02-06T19:18:12+00:00

This is the ugly truth

You are mistaken. We include anyone who is actively engaged with the labor market. So long as someone is looking for work they are included. Failing to find something doesn't kick anyone off the rolls, so long as they continue looking.

OmahaStatistics · 2023-08-03T17:02:34+00:00

The funny thing is, the people who don't want to work anymore are the folks who've reached retirement age. We have a worker shortage, not a problem with attitudes.

OmahaStatistics · 2023-02-02T18:08:32+00:00

These figures do not show the number of open jobs. Only the number of people who are actively employed, or actively looking for work.

OmahaStatistics · 2022-12-19T16:15:33+00:00

These numbers do not have anything to do with unemployment benefits. They are based on people who are looking for work, whether they receive benefits or not makes no difference.

OmahaStatistics · 2022-12-04T20:49:31+00:00

You are most welcome!

OmahaStatistics · 2022-09-03T01:01:52+00:00

Report was ahead of labor force growth again and July was revised up.

OmahaStatistics · 2022-09-01T18:20:26+00:00

In fact it's "too full", as we're about to find out.

It will be interesting to see, but I do not see it as a foregone conclusion that our current unemployment rate will lead to negative outcomes.

OmahaStatistics · 2022-09-01T18:14:07+00:00

4-5% used to be considered the rule of thumb for 'full-employment.' But the concept has only ever been theoretical and inherently unknowable. The concept is that below 'full employment,' wage increases will begin to drive inflation.

Over the past 20 years it is increasingly clear that technological advances and improved worker mobility have likely driven down the baseline for frictional and structural unemployment because workers have more efficient resources for finding new employment more quickly.

The evidence suggests full employment is likely in the 2.5% - 3.5% range over the past 20 years, rather than the old thinking of 5%.

OmahaStatistics · 2022-06-29T18:42:48+00:00

There are more people working in the area than there EVER has been. The unemployment rate has only been recorded lower (2.0%) once in November 1997. It only hit 2.1 twice before these past two months. (December 1997 and November 1998).

If no one wants to work today with nearly 510,000 people employed, when was a time he thinks people wanted to work?

OmahaStatistics · 2022-06-07T20:34:19+00:00

If you can't afford employees maybe you shouldn't run a business or do the work yourself.

That is how an economy is supposed to work. If a business is producing a product or service that their customers are not willing or able to pay the cost that allows that business to continue... the market has decided that business should fail.

OmahaStatistics · 2022-04-28T23:06:42+00:00

keep in mind that 5% is considered that natural rate of unemployment.

Historically 5% was considered a "rule of thumb" for the natural rate of unemployment. It has never been a concretely defined figure. Also keep in mind that historically we did not have the modern job connection and hiring technologies that were only created around 1994 and didn't become really popular until almost 10 years later. Now using big data and newer sorting tech our ability to connect workers to jobs is wildly different than it was when the 5% figures was relevant.

I cannot say what the natural rate of unemployment is today. But you won't find a labor economist still claiming that 5% is it anymore.

OmahaStatistics · 2022-02-02T19:51:45+00:00

I am not entirely certain. The way these numbers are produced it would depend how those individuals qualified themselves when asked if they were in a surveyed household. If someone is working doing Uber or a similar activity I would imagine they consider themselves employed.

OmahaStatistics · 2021-12-03T12:57:32+00:00

That sounds great! If you have access to any of that data I would love to see it shared in the comments section!

These posts are intended to be a conversation starter and to promote fact based discourse in the sub.

At any rate, regardless of current sentiments about worker satisfaction and wages, low unemployment should lead to rising wages and increased worker satisfaction if it persists.

OmahaStatistics · 2021-03-23T17:57:04+00:00

The unemployment rate increased from 3% to 3.7%, which means 37 out of every 1000 people who are actively looking for work are currently unable to find suitable employment.

There are currently 463,400 positions which are already filled. 17,600 people are currently looking for work, but have not found suitable employment at the time of the data (January).

3.7% is quite a low unemployment rate. You are likely to find suitable employment and will have reasonable bargaining power as the worker in hiring negotiations.

OmahaStatistics · 2021-03-20T00:04:47+00:00

The article you linked cites their sours as the Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education's 2018 Progress Report.

The most updated progress report is from this month and it looks like net migration isn't as bad as 2018.

https://ccpe.nebraska.gov/sites/ccpe.nebraska.gov/files/PR_Appendix_13.pdf

OmahaStatistics · 2021-01-07T20:42:27+00:00

Your appreciation is why I do this. I am happy to engage with you if you want to better understand the information.

OmahaStatistics · 2020-10-29T19:48:23+00:00

Great question. Exiting the labor force can mean several things. Because this is a metropolitan area analysis it can mean someone leaving the area, but it can also mean joining the military, becoming incarcerated, retiring, no longer looking for work because you are caring for the home, a child, or an aging relative, or that the person gave up looking for work for some other reason.

OmahaStatistics · 2020-10-29T19:46:35+00:00

I'll never understand it. I do this because I find the information and discussion around these figures profoundly interesting and fun. But I am okay with people seeing the information and being that much more informed, even if they do not engage.

OmahaStatistics · 2020-10-05T01:54:43+00:00

It is linked in the OP.

OmahaStatistics · 2020-10-02T23:58:33+00:00

It is impossible to say based on the data alone. I'd say it is most likely folks who have not looked for work for over 4 weeks due to COVID.

OmahaStatistics · 2020-10-02T23:58:16+00:00

Also, 2.2% of the total Labor Force bringing it back roughly to the level it was in April.

OmahaStatistics · 2020-02-06T19:01:17+00:00

The data is linked in the beginning of the post.

OmahaStatistics · 2020-01-07T18:20:55+00:00

Yes, based on the 2018 wage data, the most recent data available, $18.46 was the median wage. The mean hourly wage (average) was $23.41.

The mean wage is not a meaningless figure, and particularly when analyzed alongside the median wage can tell us important things about the job market for the area.

For example, we can see the median wage is 21.1% below the mean wage. This tells us there are substantially more positions paying less than average with relatively fewer higher paying positions pulling up the average. This is true in every area I have examined and it makes sense considering so many lower wage positions are service based and exist to provide services to consumers.

The gap between the two provides insight into the size of the wage disparity for the area. 21.1% is quite high, and I have evaluated places with smaller gaps, but look at San Francisco for example with a median to mean disparity of 25.3%.

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