LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A new report says Nebraska’s unemployment rate remained stable at 3.2 percent in September, matching the August figure.

The Nebraska Labor Department said in the report issued Friday that the preliminary September rate remained well below the preliminary national unemployment rate of 5 percent. The national rate rose a tenth from the August rate of 4.9 percent but came in a tenth of point under the 5.1 percent recorded for September 2015.

Nebraska Labor Commissioner John Albin says the state’s nonfarm employment rose in September, citing the start of the school year as “a big employment driver.”

The U.S. Labor Department says only New Hampshire’s and South Dakota’s preliminary rates of 2.9 percent and North Dakota’s 3 percent were lower in September than Nebraska’s rate.