LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – Nebraska’s labor outlook is full of good and bad news.
The good, is that the state hit a record low unemployment rate of 2.2% in August.
“It’s a big deal,” John Albin, Labor Commissioner said. “A big part of our job is to get people back employed and that says we’ve been successful in doing that.”
But the bad, comes in the form of the “we’re hiring” signs seen in the windows of businesses across the state.
Albin said as of his most recent check, there were more than 50,000 jobs listed on the Department of Labor’s website, but only about 20,000 Nebraskans looking for work.
It’s an across the board shortage,” Albin said. “I don’t think there’s a classification out there where you don’t find shortages right now.”
Albin said service industries like restaurants are being especially impacted, as they often pay lower wages.
Laurie Fraser, the owner of Doorstep Diner catering and Country Sliced Ham said they’ve been struggling to hire even though they offer competitive pay.
“We’re putting out job postings and reaching out to our network and sharing our need for qualified workers everywhere we can think but we aren’t getting applicants,” Fraser said.
Fraser said the applicants they are getting are often under qualified or don’t show up to interviews or work even after they’ve gotten the job offer.
She said that’s in-part because there’s so much competition out there.
“A lot of people in our field were laid off during the pandemic and were told to get better jobs and they did so we lost them,” Fraser said.
So now, everyone in her industry and others are hurting.
“We’re all looking for the same people,” Fraser said. “They’re just not there.”
Albin said it’s not that there are Nebraskans sitting at home relying on unemployment benefits. In reality that percentage is lower than 2% of Nebraskans. But many people simply left the workforce during the pandemic.
“If people were near retirement in the beginning of the pandemic they may have decided to take the retirement,” Fraser said. “We also have working parents who when they were laid off had to drop their childcare and haven’t found new care and are waiting to go back.”
Nebraska’s workforce participation rate is currently 68.4%, down from about 71% in 2019.
“We expect that number to go back up,” Albin said. “Traditionally it has and we’re seeing no reason it won’t this time as well.”
Albin did say that the child care tax credit and stimulus checks may cause a slower return to the workforce for some.
“But that will run out and we expect a return,” he said.
These unique factors related to the pandemic are on top of the fact that Nebraska has always needed more workers.
“Our businesses tend to grow faster than our population can keep up with,” Albin said. “I’m not saying we’re going to get a point…
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