LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Labor Department says the state’s preliminary unemployment rate remained unchanged in September at 2.8 percent.

The department said in a report released Friday that the figure matched that of August, which was also unchanged from July.

The report says the September rate was half a percentage point under the year-ago rate of 3.3 percent. The September rate also remained well below the U.S. rate, which dipped to 4.2 percent for the month.

The report says Nebraska nonfarm employment in September was up 14,285 over the year and up more than 3,750 over the month.