Nebraska: Workforce shortages only “is going to get worse”

In the past two years the number of job openings in Nebraska has nearly doubled. It’s only going to get worse according to Lee Elliott, vice president of human resources at St. Francis Medical Center in Grand Island.

“We are facing significant problems in our state,” Elliott said, adding the population in Nebraska is projected to decrease in the coming years. “We’re not talking about a minor temporary situation.”

While the labor supply shortage is already a concern, Elliott said, "it is going to get worse." He predicted 2008 will be the tipping point when the workforce shortage will start to become severe.

Mr. Elliott hit the nail on the head.  The year 2008 was forecast as the tipping point 10 years ago and yet employers and organizations including the government acted as if they had all the time in the world to deal with workforce trends that were going to change the way they did business.

Well, 2008 is here and as Mr. Elliot said, his state like dozens of other states are facing skilled worker shortages and ….that this year is just the tipping point when skill shortages start to become severe.

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Ira S Wolfe