With More Jobs Than People, Prairie Life Has Its Payoffs

[Khephra]

With More Jobs Than People, Prairie Life Has Its Payoffs
Nebraska Appeals to Big-City Fatigue, Hometown Loyalty

By T.R. Reid
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 27, 2004; Page A03

SIDNEY, Neb. -- "Here's our problem," says City Manager Gary Person, describing an economic plight that most other cities would love to have. "We've got a town of 6,200 people, man, woman and child. And we've got 6,400 jobs to fill."

Fueled by the explosive national growth of a local retailer and by a general wave of prosperity here on the prairie, Sidney's economy is growing so fast that the town finds itself with more jobs than people. And these days, that pleasant predicament is reflected across Nebraska.

As a result, Republican Gov. Mike Johanns has launched a nationwide recruiting drive to persuade people to come to the Cornhusker State and fill some of those open jobs.

"A lot of states have too many workers and not enough jobs," says Richard Baier, Nebraska's director of economic development. "They're offering all sorts of tax breaks and relocation funding to lure employers. We've got the opposite problem -- we are beating the bushes to fill the jobs we already have."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15372-2004Nov26.html

[illflem]

1. Who would want to live in Nebraska though?

Very boring state unless you're into corn

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. or football

n/t

[soothsayer]

6. doesn't it still have the longest life expectancy in the US?

the residents of nebraska, i mean

[Sporadicus]

12. You Don't Actually Live Any Longer in Nebraska

It just seems that way :silly:

[theHandpuppet]

23. That's because..

... it takes such a damned long time to die of ennui.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

24. It even takes half a lifetime...

... to drive through Nebraska, or so it seems. The interstates in Nebraska are dangerous with truckers playing games, blocking up traffic by driving side by side and slowing down, etc. Especially on I-80 going east and west. You are constantly dodging them and this has gone on for decades.

[Erika]

11. Children of The Corn

Anyone remember that flick? I've never known anyone from Nebraska who wanted to return there.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

18. We drove from Massachusetts to California when we moved here

Drove across the U.S.A. in a U-Haul truck.

The ONLY state we passed through that I would describe as "frightening" was Nebraska. We stopped for burgers and there was a just a heavy, threatening vibe in the air. We ended up leaving half our food just for the sake of getting out of there.

So no offense to anyone reading this who's living there right now and thinks it's great. You might be right, and we might have been wrong. At the time, it felt like we'd stumbled onto the set of "Night of the Living Dead." Very, very scary "townsfolk." NOTHING would get me back in that state again.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

25. Yep...

... stopping to eat at a fast food joint in Nebraska, especially on a Saturday afternoon is like being in a room full of cows chewing their cud.... they watch your every move and say nothing, not even a hello from the counter persons.

[Demeter]

29. Not Only Boring

Let's say you move to Nebraska in desperation for work. Then the local Big Business moves to Nicaragua. You are stuck in a nowhere place, with unsalable house, no public services, and no other source of work. Having lived in NH when DEC went belly up, I can tell you, there is no future in it.

[Carolab]

3. and it's FULL of Repugs

no thanks--I escaped when I was 5

[VegasWolf]

4. What jobs are these? any benefits? 401's? Wal mart greeters?

[Viva_La_Revolution]

14. Cabella's Sports....

Built a huge retail sportsmans store out in bumfk Nebraska, outside of small town. The damn thing has a huge display in the middle of the store, a waterfall and forest, all these stuffed animals in "their natural habitat". On the other side of the store they sell the gun/bows/grenades to hunt down said animals. Ick

[Viva_La_Revolution]

15. oh, the jobs....

service jobs in town, to support the new tourist trade.

[daleo]

20. Shouldn't that be "cornhl Nebraska"? n/t

[spinbaby]

28. A Cabelas just went in near Wheeling

Tbey have a reputation for paying much better than other retailers in the area--I'm not sure how much that is, but it seems to at least be a good bit more than Wally World.

[Bryan]

5. As a person who's visited Sidney

...it makes Salt Lake City look like Monte Carlo. Cabela's isn't just the major employer, it's the sum total of the local entertainment.

[daleo]

7. This doesn't sound probable

There are always the odd pockets of temporary labor shortages, but I can't believe rural areas in the prairies are that prosperous, else why the continuing loss of population?

It sounds like "red state" propaganda.

On edit - there were very few numbers in the story, such as unemployment rates, jobs created, population counts, wage levels, etc. That always makes me suspicious. It just seems like a story to leave the impression that "red states are properous too".

[MatrixEscape]

8. Hmm ... notice this:

"... we are beating the bushes to fill the jobs ..."

Anybody can beat the Bushes when it comes to that ;)

[Paul Hood]

16. That is the best line I've heard. I love it . n/t

[Viva_La_Revolution]

9. While less than 100 miles away in CO...

The only jobs are low paying, at the new commercial pig farms. Why would they leave workin with swine for low pay, to moving to NE for a different lowpaying job? (notice how they don't mention what those jobs pay..)

[madrchsod]

13. maybe so they won`t smell like pigshit

anymore? yes you`re right, one 6-7 dollar an hour job for another...

[Deja Q]

10. Tax breaks and related issues. Sad. Fucking sad. Lives get torn

when one state lures companies from another... one huge chain. A chain of rust.

[BamaGirl]

17. I'm suspicious...

I have a good friend in Neb. who has two degrees and can't get a job. (Well, at Walmart sure, but that doesn't exactly pay daycare, does it? That ain't job growth.) Her husband has a degree and is working a "temporary" job for peanuts and no benefits. From what she tells me, job growth there is about the same as Bama...Walmart and McD's.

[Wapsie B]

19. Yeah sure.

Retail jobs. Whoop de doo. One the sad things about this is that retail outlets are now getting economic development money. What the hell is up with that? When did retail companies start needing my tax $$ to build a store someplace? Here in my town developers want to relocate the entire fairgrounds just to build a Loews.

[Sara Beverley]

21. Now that the Bush administration knows this, not to worry, a "resettlement

project is headed Nebraska's way. We need to build those red states up with loyal folks who will stay "red."

[AndyTiedye]

22. Let Me Guess. They're PO'ed they Have to Pay Above Minimum Wage

[SoCalDem]

26. Nebraska & poverty...Omaha food pantry article

Published Friday
November 26, 2004

South Omaha pantry expands its mission

BY CINDY GONZALEZ

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=1636&u_sid=1268839

WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
When a new Omaha grocery store gave Mary Anaya a shot at an all-you-can-grab shopping spree, she became a minister on a mission. Mary Anaya is a whirlwind of energy in the Mission for All Nations food pantry, which she runs with her husband, Pastor Josue Anaya. The south Omaha pantry's volunteers and staff are busy packing food boxes for the needy. Anaya cased the place for the highest-value items, all of which would be donated to the south Omaha charity she runs. She swapped her dress shoes for sneakers. "And I ran," Anaya said. "I mean, I really ran." At the end of the 3-minute dash at No Frills, the mother of eight had collected double the loot of other contestants, which put her agency in line for even more prizes.

snip....

"Give them a little, and they can make a lot happen with it," said Virgil Armendariz Jr. of the South Omaha Business Association. "They're very resourceful people." Just two years old, the charity has grown from a few shelves in a church basement to a pair of buildings at 5210 and 5218 S. 21st St.

The nondenominational mission features four components:

• Christmas for South O: Provides special meals and toys to the needy. This holiday season, 400 turkey and ham dinners will be distributed.

• Clothe the Nations: A worker next week will transport 7,500 pounds of clothing to Mexico.

• Freedom's Bridge: Short-term family housing, easing transition of former inmates and drug-addicted moms into community life.

• Hope Dispensary: The largest component, in an average month it feeds 1,200 people.

snip.....

"Growth from there has just been explosive," said Mary Anaya.

snip....

Omaha-area food pantries recommend allowing no more than four pantry visits a year to minimize abuse and dependency. But at Mission for All Nations, if a family volunteers, it is eligible for more food.
"There are too many people, especially in south Omaha, that are working poor," Anaya said.

snip...

some demographics
http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Products/Profiles/Single/2003/ACS/Narrative/160/NP16000US3137000.htm

POVERTY AND PARTICIPATION IN GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS: In 2003, 14 percent of people were in poverty. Eighteen percent of related children under 18 were below the poverty level, compared with 8 percent of people 65 years old and over. Eleven percent of all families and 29 percent of families with a female householder and no husband present had incomes below the poverty level.

[teryang]

27. Thank you for the facts n/t

[0007]

30. How do these stats compare to Texas?

It seems that Nebraska is light years ahead of Texas!

[SoCalDem]

31. Poverty facts on texas here

http://www.cppp.org/products/fastfacts/poverty.html

and here

http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Products/Profiles/Single/2003/ACS/TX.htm

[0007]

36. Thank you

[DeaconBlues]

33. things are shitty in rural Nebraska as well

If things are going as great as the Washington Post article says in Nebraska, why are some of the poorest counties in the nation located in the state?

[jmcgowanjm]

32. Population Peak occurred w/ the Bison slaughter

Plains pop has been downtrending ever since.


America, narrowly, voted for National Socialism - a system
by which the industrial and technological sections of
the economy are taxes(d) and pillaged for the sinews of
a militarized economy, while the hinterland is given access
to land, social status and oil in order to hold on to previous
value relationships. Nazi comparisons are facile - because
they lead to the wrong conclusion. Americans did not vote
for racism, bigotry, death camps or any such will o the
whisp. They voted for an ossification of the social structure,
and placing a certain nationalist mania in a privileged social
and political position. The army cannot be questioned, and
those traits which make it possible to fill that army are
national imperatives.

What is fundamentally broken is this: banks can loan money
for assets - mostly development of land. But land value
is supported by cheap oil. One "wins" the land rush by
going farther out than other people, building on cheap land,
and hoping enough people follow you to make prices
spike through the roof. This means burning more
oil.

http://www.bopnews.com/archives/002338.html

Since reaching a peak in oil production of 24.8 million barrels
in 1962, Nebraska's oil output has generally declined.  In
1999, only 2.66 million barrels of oil were produced.  This is
a decline of 16 percent from the 3.18 million barrels
produced the year before. 

(Drop 3% /yr to find current production)

http://www.nol.org/home/NEO/winter2000/winter003.html

[DeaconBlues]

34. I believe that more jobs will be opening up soon

The Huskers had the first losing season in decades this year. As many Nebraskans have little else to live for, the suicide rate will go through the roof.

[LibDemAlways]

35. Have a friend who left So. Cal.

in 1970 for college in Northern Colorado and an eventual teaching job in Nebraska. She married a local freeper-type and never looked back.

In 1985 she came back to visit her parents, and I took her out to dinner. Put on a Phil Collins tape in the car. He was huge at the time - performed on both sides of the Atlantic at Live AID that very day. Anyway, I put the tape on, and she asks, "Who's the singer?" Me: "Phil Collins." Her: "Never heard of him." Me: "You've never heard of Phil Collins?" Her: "No. Must not have him in Nebraska."

[LiberalAndProud]

37. Democrats should move to Nebraska. Turn this state blue!