Data Shows Nebraska Employment Numbers Lag in Protracted COVID-19 Recovery

OMAHA – While data shows that the impact of COVID-19 on the Nebraska economy was lesser than the nation as a whole, the state still hit a ten-year low in employment numbers in 2020.

About 12% of Nebraskans reported that they were unable to work in May of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to 14% of respondents in the Current Population Survey (CPS) nationally. The percent of Nebraskans engaged in part-or-full-time work dropped from 65% at the start of 2020 to a ten-year low of about 59% in March of that year. Numbers have slowly crept up in the following months, but they have yet to hit pre-pandemic levels.

The data was compiled by the UNO Center for Public Affairs Research (CPAR) using the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey sponsored jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The CPS is the official data source for unemployment rates. Data from the CPS on Nebraska’s workforce is available through CPAR along with several other resources to track the impact of COVID-19 on the Nebraska economy and workforce.

Josie Schafer, Director at CPAR, said, “While the Nebraska economy was not hit as hard by COVID-19 as other states, our workers still felt a tremendous impact. Many predicted that there would be a v-shaped recovery, with jobs coming back online as quickly as they were lost. The reality has been a much slower recovery with many people still out of work.”

Additionally, for the first time in ten years, 2020 survey respondents in Nebraska reported layoffs as the number one cause for unemployment. Typically, the largest unemployment category is made up of residents who have recently re-entered the workforce, not longtime workers who have recently lost their jobs.

This data was reported at the Nebraska Data Users Conference Series, a longstanding annual event hosted by CPAR. The conference series will continue on June 24^th, August 26^th, and October 28^th.

CPAR collaboratively produces and disseminates high-quality public scholarship about topics that impact the lives of Nebraskans. Ongoing projects from CPAR include policy analyses for the Planning Committee of the Nebraska State Legislature, the Nebraska Rural Transit Project, governing.unomaha.edu, and designation by the U.S. Census Bureau as a statewide liaison for disseminating a range of data products. Visit cpar.unomaha.edu to access CPAR’s extensive data resources on state and local issues in Nebraska.