Tracking another week of record jobless claims in Nebraska

By Matt Waite, UNL Data Journalism Professor

The 16,381 initial unemployment claims last week are a 39% drop from the peak of 27,054 the previous week. However, that current number is still 1,962% higher than before coronavirus.

Put another way, the 16,381 claims reported last week is 15,613 claims above the weekly average for 2020 before coronavirus. From January to mid-March, the state reported an average of 778 claims a week.

Last week's claims number is larger than the combined populations of the 16 smallest counties in the state.

The 83,870 Nebraskans who filed for unemployment during the...