Report: Nebraska has among the tightest labor markets in the U.S.

(The Center Square) – Nebraska is one of three states with the greatest labor shortages, according to Business Insider, which analyzed data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the job boards Indeed, ZipRecruiter and CareerBuilder. New Hampshire and Vermont are the other two.

Nebraska had 52,263 job openings and 54,856 job candidates on its employment job board, Scott Hunzeker, Nebraska Department of Labor research administrator, told The Center Square. That is a ratio of 1.05 candidates per job.

“This is still showing a tight labor market,” Hunzeker said. The supply is tighter in some fields than others, he added.

For registered nurses, there were 3,452 job openings in the Nebraska job board but only 285 candidates, he said.

“That’s a ratio of .08 candidates per job,” Hunzeker said.

It was a different story for customer service representatives, with 847 openings but 3,676 candidates, a ratio of 4.34 candidates per opening.

“Even though they all average out to really close to one candidate per opening, it can be quite different occupation by occupation,” Hunzeker said.

Business Insider cited several factors for the tight labor market, including workers quitting their jobs to find work with better pay, benefits and working conditions.

The COVID-19 pandemic also may have prompted older workers in the so-called “Baby Boom” generation to retire, Hunzeker said.

“A lot of research has shown that people who were of retirement age but maybe were looking to work a few more years, may have retired earlier because of COVID,” said Hunzeker.

The Nebraska Department of Labor is currently working on more detailed research on the impact of the federal unemployment supplements on the Nebraska labor market. It could be six months before the results are in on that study, Hunzeker said.

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