Adapting to the Current Economic Climate in Non-Metropolitan Nebraska

The national economy has faltered during the past year. While Nebraska’s economy has also faltered, it has not seen the level of job losses and mortgage foreclosures that have occurred in other parts of the country. Given these conditions, what do rural Nebraskans think about the current economic climate? How has their household been impacted during the past year? What changes have they made because of concerns about the economy? How concerned are they about financial matters? This paper provides a detailed analysis of these questions. This report details 2,852 responses to the 2009 Nebraska Rural Poll, the fourteenth annual effort to understand rural Nebraskans’ perceptions. Respondents were asked a series of questions about the current economic climate. For all questions, comparisons are made among different respondent subgroups, that is, comparisons by age, occupation, region, etc