Anemic Job Growth in Omaha

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nativeomahan
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Anemic Job Growth in Omaha

Post by nativeomahan »

Did I somehow miss this story in the local media? Here is the take from the Kansas City Star, where they are bemoaning the KC area's anemic job growth the past three years. Sadly, Omaha did even worse, being near the very bottom of the 25 cities surveyed.

http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/opn-c ... 91713.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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skinzfan23
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Re: Anemic Job Growth in Omaha

Post by skinzfan23 »

That is a little alarming, but I wonder if that has anything to do with the unemployment rate. I know Omaha's was one of the lowest, so it hasn't changed much. Some of the other cities had higher unemployment and were able to gain those jobs back. I could be completely wrong, but I would like to see the whole picture. I am not convinced that the job growth in Omaha is that bad.
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iamjacobm
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Re: Anemic Job Growth in Omaha

Post by iamjacobm »

I had been thinking this but wasn't sure how to fit it in a thread.

What was different 15 or so years ago when we were landing huge job numbers from companies like PacLife, Gallop, Pay Pal ect compared to today? More competition nationwide? Less companies growing or looking for new markets to move to? Has Omaha simply become a less desirable business climate?

I'm not suggesting doom and gloom, but it is something I wonder about.
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nebugeater
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Re: Anemic Job Growth in Omaha

Post by nebugeater »

iamjacobm wrote:I had been thinking this but wasn't sure how to fit it in a thread.

What was different 15 or so years ago when we were landing huge job numbers from companies like PacLife, Gallop, Pay Pal ect compared to today?  More competition nationwide?  Less companies growing or looking for new markets to move to?  Has Omaha simply become a less desirable business climate?

I'm not suggesting doom and gloom, but it is something I wonder about.
I have to think that part of the equation is the low unemployment rate here compared to other destinations. Harder to fill new openings in large chunks with qualified people
For the record  NEBUGEATER does not equal BUGEATER    !!!!!!!
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Coyote
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Re: Anemic Job Growth in Omaha

Post by Coyote »

I am not an expert at this, but, I remember reading an article years ago about low unemployment rates and industry growth. I had thought getting the rate under 5% was great, until one realizes that if there were not enough available prospects, businesses would find it hard to expand/grow in certain markets...
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nativeomahan
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Re: Anemic Job Growth in Omaha

Post by nativeomahan »

One sure way to maintain a low unemployment rate is to have nobody wanting to live or work in a community. Las Vegas has had a high unemployment rate the past 6 years, but they also maintain a huge growth rate.
I don't know, maybe it is our $hitty weather. Many cities with double digit growth rates this decade are in the south.
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iamjacobm
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Re: Anemic Job Growth in Omaha

Post by iamjacobm »

nativeomahan wrote:One sure way to maintain a low unemployment rate is to have nobody wanting to live or work in a community.  Las Vegas has had a high unemployment rate the past 6 years, but they also maintain a huge growth rate.  
I don't know, maybe it is our $hitty weather.  Many cities with double digit growth rates this decade are in the south.
Yeah, but plenty of our peer or regional cities are growing faster job wise. Tulsa, Des Moines, Lincoln all outpacing us. Their weather isn't exactly tropical compared to us.
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guitarguy
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Re: Anemic Job Growth in Omaha

Post by guitarguy »

I'm not too worried about Omaha not having explosive growth numbers. With explosive growth there is often explosive contractions and Omaha's classic slow and steady approach has proven effective with minimal jobs lost during the Recession and new construction continuing the whole time. I moved to NYC in May of 2010 and it wasn't until early in 2013 that new construction was happening the way it continued the whole Recession in Omaha.
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