Lincoln (Neb.) - Sept. 24, 1997 - Nebraska's economy shows no signs of letting up on its healthy rate of growth according to the September issue of Business in Nebraska.
Reporting on the results of the second quarter 1997 Nebraska Quarterly Business Conditions Survey, Charles Lamphear, director of the Bureau of Business Research at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln's College of Business Administration, wrote that almost all indications are positive for continued strong economic growth.
Lamphear reported that three-fourths or more of the nearly 1,200 nonfarm, private-sector businesses that participated in the survey reported earnings gains for second quarter 1997 over second quarter 1996 and first quarter 1997.
Job creation continued to grow at a nearly constant rate of about 20,000 full-time jobs each quarter, with metro and nonmetro counties sharing about equally in the new job growth. Substantial new job growth occurred in each of the survey's nine occupational categories, with nearly 35 percent of new hires occurring in the professional groups (executives/administrators, managers/professional specialists and marketing/sales representatives).
Largely because of the increase in new hires in the professional ranks, the average hourly wage paid to new full-time hires in the state ($12.13) was $2.83 higher than the average wage paid to replacement hires. For metro counties (Cass, Douglas, Lancaster, Sarpy and Washington), the differential was even greater, $13.74 for full-time new hires, $9.77 for replacement hires.
"The possibility exists of a new trend in higher-wage job growth in Nebraska," Lamphear wrote. "If this is an emerging new trend, and there is evidence to support this notion, it should be welcome news for job seekers who want to make Nebraska their home."
Another positive mark was that new jobs appear to be geographically dispersed between the state's nonmetropolitan and metropolitan areas. In the second quarter, 56 percent of the hires for newly created, full-time positions occurred in the Lincoln-Omaha area and 44 percent elsewhere in the state. The first-quarter survey found this division to be 52 percent for nonmetro areas and 48 percent for metro areas.
The data also show that demand for qualified workers is strong. More than 10,900 full-time positions went unfilled in the second quarter due to a lack of qualified applicants. This is a slight change from the first quarter when 64 percent of available full-time positions were not filled due to a lack of qualified applicants. Lamphear urged caution in interpreting that statistic.
"Applicants may be unqualified for a variety of reasons," he wrote. "Further, it takes time to find suitable matches of jobs and skilled workers at virtually all occupational levels. Unfilled positions are an indication of how intense the search is for new employees."
However, state development officials stress that there are numerous opportunities for trained workers in the state because the tight market for trained employees is not stopping businesses from expanding. Almost nine of 10 businesses (89 percent) said they expect their third-quarter revenues to equal or exceed those of the same quarter of 1996.
The survey is a joint project of the Nebraska departments of
Economic Development and Labor and the Bureau of Business
Research.
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