Ornamental Horticultural Employment Opportunities in Omaha, Nebraska

The purpose of this study was to determine the ornamental horticultural employment opportunities in the metropolitan area of Omaha, Nebraska. The problem was defined in terms of the following objectives: (1) to identify employment opportunities by clusters of job titles or occupational areas; (2) to determine trends of occupational opportunities existing in the field of ornamental horticulture; and (3) to identify selected characteristics of employees in ornamental horticulture businesses: (a) level of education desired for future employees, and (b) ages of employees. The occupational family of ornamental horticulture was categorized on the basis of the major function of the firm. The seven categories were: (1) Wholesale Florists; (2) Retail Florists; (3) Landscape Service; (4) Golf Courses; (5) Tree Service; (6) Nurseryman; and (7) Retail Vendor of Nursery Stock. The region of study was designated as Omaha, Nebraska. For purposes of this study, only those firms and businesses that used an Omaha mailing address were included. Lists of firms and business were then compiled. Firms listed in categories 1 through 5 were taken from the yellow pages of the Omaha Telephone directory, May 1969 edition. The firms listed in categories 6 and 7 were taken from the 1970 list of Nebraska Nurserymen, published by the Nebraska State Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant industry. This list contains names of all firms and businesses that are commercially involved with producing and selling perennial plants. All lists were cross checked to avoid duplications, and a table of random numbers was used to select a 25 percent random sample from each of these 7 categories. These firms and businesses were then contacted to obtain data. The data collection instrument used combined features of questionnaires used by Blezek and Zikmund at the University of Nebraska, Meaders at Michigan State University, and Griffin at the University of Missouri. Advisor: Roy D. Dillo