(KLZA)-- Pawnee and McPherson counties had the lowest unemployment rate in Nebraska for the month of May. 

The 1.7-percent unemployment rate in Pawnee County dipped down from 2 percent the previous month. The jobless rate also dipped in nearly all the rest of the counties in extreme Southeast Nebraska for the month. The exception was Nemaha County. 

Nemaha County had a May unemployment rate of 3.4 percent, up three-tenths of a percentage point from April. Richardson, Otoe and Gage counties all had an unemployment rate of 2.9 percent all slightly lower than April. In Johnson County the unemployment rate was 2.7 percent, down three tenths.  

The Nebraska unemployment rate has been steady at 3 percent for five consecutive months. The rate is well below the national unemployment rate of 4.7 percent in May. Nebraska’s unemployment rate is third best in the country behind the 2.5 percent rate in South Dakota and 2.7 percent in New Hampshire.