(Bureau of Business Research Web site: http://www.bbr.unl.edu)
Lincoln (Neb.) - Oct. 9, 1998 - Although there are some scattered weaknesses in Nebraska's economy that could cause slower growth by the end of the year or early in 1999, the overall impact of those weaknesses is expected to be minimal.
That's the assessment of the latest Nebraska Quarterly Business Conditions Survey reported in the September issue of Business in Nebraska, the 10-times-yearly newsletter of the Bureau of Business Research in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Business Administration.
Forty-six percent of the businesses that participated in the survey (covering the second quarter of 1998) reported increases in second-quarter revenues over the same period in 1997 - a result similar to those in every survey since the series began in the third quarter of 1996.
"The state's business climate has remained virtually constant since the (survey) was first conducted," Charles Lamphear, director of the Bureau of Business research, wrote. "The state's current economic climate, best characterized as prosperous, growing and stable, provides ideal conditions for strategic business planning."
The most apparent weakness, Lamphear said, was in agricultural services, where for the last two quarters, the percent of agricultural service businesses reporting revenue declines exceeded those reporting increases over the previous year, with the biggest impact in rural areas. The survey also revealed signs of some regional weaknesses in the wholesale trade sector.
The scattered weaknesses, he said, are due to several factors, including low farm commodity prices, the recently settled General Motors strike and continuing international financial, economic and political crises. The biggest factor, however, is the state's labor shortage, which will hit rural communities and small businesses hardest, especially those that rely on unskilled workers.
"The demand for workers remains high mainly because of the long period of uninterrupted economic growth," Lamphear wrote. "At the same time, the supply of qualified workers remains low, largely because of the low growth rate of the state's working-age population, coupled with perceived skill deficiencies."
Based on survey responses, Lamphear estimated that 23,000 new full-time jobs were created statewide during the second quarter. The survey also indicated that more than 13,000 full- time jobs remained unfilled during the quarter, with respondents citing a lack of qualified applicants as the reason that 47 percent of those jobs were unfilled.
Meanwhile, the average hourly wage for new full-time hires
in the quarter was $11.62, which Lamphear said was statistically
unchanged from the average of the five previous quarters. The
average hourly wage for replacement hires was $9.00, down from
$9.38 in the first quarter of 1998, but "statistically equal" to
the 1997 quarterly average.
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