Aksarben Foundation: Nebraska Landscape Analysis 2019

Introduction —

Chapman and Company was hired by the Aksarben Foundation and Mike Cassling to provide a landscape analysis regarding technology talent in Omaha and Lincoln. This document summarizes a larger report provided to Aksarben and Cassling in September 2019. The analysis compared Omaha and Lincoln to twenty-six other cities regarding their technology talent labor pool. It analyzed density, wages, growth, and other factors.

Problem —

In early 2018, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicted that the United States will have 1.4 million technology jobs more than it can fill by 2020. The problem of finding technology workers is widespread and continuing to build.

In 2000, Omaha was well-positioned to succeed in the growing technology economy. It was fourth regarding technology workers against the twenty-six other peer communities. It had slightly below but comparable wages. And it had relative density regarding talent and industrial need.

In 2000, Lincoln was not as well-positioned as Omaha – but still around average for the peer cities. In particular, Lincoln was comparable on density, raw numbers of IT workers, and other factors. However, Lincoln lagged and continues to lag regarding technology wages.

Since that time, both communities have slipped compared to the peer cities.

The Competition —

In reviewing twenty-seven communities, we were surprised that most were using a similar strategy that seemed under-focused and under-capitalized generally.

Simply put, that strategy was:

• To recruit from communities slightly larger than itself and known for technology in their region (for example, Boise recruits Seattle and Portland),

• To use code schools and alternative training tools as a teaser measure – meaning that most were producing fewer than 100 graduates per year,

• To recruit young professionals with a focus on quality of life and family (generically), and

• To use universities (without a clearly articulated plan) to replace and grow the technology workforce.

This strategy is consistent with the current strategy in Omaha and Lincoln. This strategy appears to be failing consistently across all cities – explaining why the workforce needs will be 40% higher than the available workforce.

Read the full report below…