Pa9e 2 perspectives
NY Times says jobs here plentiful but not so
By Reid Warren
First the good news: Lincoln is a clean, healthy city
with great potential growth, a good atmosphere to raise a
family and one of the lowest unemployed rates in the
nation.
Now the bad news: for those looking for high-paying
jobs after their long grind through college, the above state
ment doesn't guarantee you an opportunity in the capital
city.
Jobs in Lincoln are either scarce or plentiful, depend
ing on a person't major and amount of experienced
obtained in his field.
Almost everyone agrees that Lincoln, reflecting current
national trends, has good opportunities for engineering
and business graduates.
But some other fields are a little shaky in Lincoln's job
market.
Just because Lincoln has a large employer in city, state
and federal government doesn't mean that job opportunit
ies here are brimming over, said Gene Landkamer, manag
er of Nebraska Job Service.
Landkamer cited architecture, teaching and some
liberal arts areas as lacking opportunities in Lincoln.
Although his office has seen few teaching positions,
Landkamer said that is partially because many teachers go
through placement offices at their colleges and only use
job service as a last resort.
"When we see them they're usually looking for some
thing else," he said.
Liberal arts switch fields
Many liberal arts majors end up in different fields than
their majors, Landkamer said, and that fact wasn't
necessarily bad.
"I don't feel they have wasted their time. With a liberal
arts degree you've learned to learn," he said. "I don't
know of any job that you start on knowing everything
there is to know about it," he said.
Landkamer said his office has more business and
engineering opportunities than anything else for college
graduates.
But he cautioned that many business administration
graduates with minimal accounting experience come out
of college "thinking that they're management level."
Getting management opportunities depends on a stu
dent's training and experience, he said.
Many skilled engineering graduates seek jobs outside of
Lincoln because of better opportunities elsewhere, he
said.
"But Lincoln probably compares with any other
college town in the country," he added.
Often students form an attachment to cities like
Lincoln and find it hard to leave, Landkamer said.
Some just like the atmosphere, he said, while others
find staying in town a necessity because of a spouse still
attending school.
While college graduates form one of the most sizable
groups at Nebraska Job Service, Landkamer didn't attri
bute that to the wide publicity Lincoln received as having
the lowest employment rate in the nation.
Swamped with job applicants
"Most of the applicants we see are from Lincoln," he
said, "but also many college graduates swamp the nation
with letters after they graduate."
Don Purcell, UNL director of business research, said
Lincoln "is not your typical labor market."
"The conditions are different," he said. "The supply of
graduates is so much larger here, the supply has really
inundated the job market.
"Some graduates go elsewhere, but many decide to
stay," Purcell said.
Lincoln Mayor Helen Boosalis said the city doesn't
have many opportunities for college graduates because of
budget cuts forced by inflation and a seven percent spend
ing lid.
While echoing the fact that times are ripe for engineer
ing and business graduates, Boosalis said jobs beyond
those fields are scarce.
It may not make sense that a city which received so
much free publicity as having the lowest unemployment
rate in the nation should be low on job opportunities.
It was a national Labor Department survey that
showed Lincoln as having a 3.3 percent unemployment
rate last Oct. 14, the lowest total among 214 metro
politan areas listed.
This fact was repeated by the New York Times, Paul
Harvey and NBC's "Today" show.
But some people claimed the unemployment figures
were misused because Lincoln's economy is not heavily in
dustry based and unemployment rates are merely esti
mates. Monthly unemployment changes are more import
ant, they said.
(Figures released by the state Labor Department show
Lincoln's unemployment rate rose to 3.6 percent in Nov
ember, 4 percent in December and 4.3 percent in Janu
ary, still low by national standards.)
Survey called unfortunate
But Duane Vicary, executive vice president of
Lincoln's Chamber of Commerce, called the national
survey "one of the most unfortunate statements ever
made."
Vicary said Lincoln's building trades have an un
employment rate of 35 percent.
While that figure doesn't compare with Cleveland or
Detroit, Vicary said, everything is relative.
Vicary said Lincoln needs a new zoning policy that will
allow an extension of industry beyond city limits and en
tice new industry to Lincoln.
"Unless we have some corrective legislative offers, we'll
remain in the pits as far as offering industry to Lincoln,"
Vicary said. "If we don't turn that around in Nebraska,
we'll be at the bottom compared to other states," he said.
Vicary said that if Lincoln is unable to keep and attract
college giaduates, an "outmigration" of graduates will
occur.
But Boosalis said Lincoln doesn't need a change in zon
ing that there is ample opportunity for growth.
Some born-and-bred Lincolnites are bucking trends and
heading for greener pastures, she said, but expanding in
dustry will increase opportunities.
"Part of the crowded situation is because Lincoln is a
desirable place to live," Boosalis said.
Vicary agreed and said Lincoln is a mid-sized com
munity that many people like to stay in.
"A lot of people go other places," he said, "but
Lincoln as a community offers a lot more than it used
to."
There are trade-offs, Vicary said. A person can take a
higher paying job in Cleveland, for example, as opposed to
staying in Lincoln with a lower paying job.
Vicary said Lincoln has an unusually good climate for
insurance opportunities, and predicted that city and state
government, along with the downtown area, will become
increasingly large employers of college graduates.
Minorities have strong opportunities in Lincoln, Vicary
said, because Lincoln has a low minority population and
large minority employers in local government and local
firms.
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