LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Labor Department says the state’s preliminary unemployment rate remained unchanged at 2.9 percent in June.

The department said in a report released Friday that the June rate was three-tenths of a point under the year-ago rate of 3.2 percent. The new rate also remained well below the U.S. rate of 4.5 percent in June.

The report says nonfarm employment is up more than 18,600 over the year and nearly 5,200 over the month.