The Potential Additional Supply of Labor Available to the Omaha SMSA: Summary

The purpose of this study is to determine from the best information available the potential supply of labor available to present and prospective employers in the community composing the Omaha SMSA. In doing so certain well established trends provide the starting point. First is the basic long-term shift in the industry employment patterns of the United States. That is, with the long term industrialization of the U.S. economy that has been taking place since the Civil War, there has been a continuous shift from agricultural to nonagricultural employment. This trend is still continuing and can be expected to do so at least through this decade. Along with this has been the long-term trend of migration from rural to urban areas as employment prospects continue to be brighter in the cities for young people entering the labor force and for displaced workers from predominantly agricultural areas. There is a tendency for workers to migrate to the nearest urban area where satisfactory employment opportunities exist. As a result of this the SMSA has experienced a significant amount of in-migration in recent years and can be expected to do so in the future