This article was sent recently to professional business site selectors around the country as part of the Greater Omaha Chamber's ongoing targeted business recruitment effort. The goal is to encourage them to consider Omaha as a great place for their clients to locate or expand business projects because of our strong, diversified and stable economy compared to other parts of the nation.
With a virtual boulder being dropped in the national economic pond, Omaha is feeling just a slight ripple thanks to a strong, diversified and stable economy compared to other parts of the nation. Located in the Midwest, Omaha enjoys a certain amount of "insulation" from the severe economic hits experienced elsewhere.
A diverse mix of industries and commerce in Greater Omaha allows the community to benefit from not relying on one or two business sectors to thrive and prosper. For example, Omaha is the headquarters to four Fortune 500 companies in four distinct industries - packaged foods, financial services, construction engineering and transportation. This, along with industry leaders in technology, data processing and management, manufacturing, bio sciences, agri-business and others, provide Omaha protection from the economic impact being felt in other areas.
Further evidence of Omaha's economic stability is found in the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) annual benchmark revisions for January through December 2008. During this time period, the Omaha market added 5,600 net new jobs - 4,500 were in the private sector. The leading categories for job gains were education and healthcare (+3.6 percent), construction (+2.0 percent) and financial (+1.8 percent). In addition, Omaha's unemployment rate for January 2009 was just 4.3 percent (seasonally adjusted) compared to 7.6 on a national scale.
Other indicators of Greater Omaha's economic health include net taxable sales for December of 2008 increasing by 1.7 percent versus a year ago. In February 2009, seasonally adjusted home sales also increased.
Overall, the entire state of Nebraska has weathered the economic storm quite well compared to the rest of the nation. In fact, the BLS reported Nebraska's unemployment rate at 4.2 percent in February 2009, the second lowest state unemployment rate nationally. Also, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Nebraska is one of only nine states in the country that is currently operating with a state budget deficit of $0.
Overall, the news from Greater Omaha is very encouraging. This is one community that's well positioned for location, relocation and expansion projects of any scope during a difficult economic time.