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Kelsey Bergen
Over the last few months, I have been writing about workforce challenges. I have covered why we are experiencing these challenges now, what is causing the labor shortage, what businesses can do during this challenging time and how the community can help. I want to wrap up this series by focusing on the future workforce, specifically as it relates to Hamilton County.
It is obvious that today’s youth will one day become the workforce. Starting at a young age we ask kids what they want to be when they grow up. We also create experiences at a variety of ages where youth can tour local businesses and learn about different jobs they can have when they are adults. Before they graduate there are intern opportunities to try different industries and the conversation turns to how much money they can make and what education they need to earn that wage.
While none of these practices to educate our youth about working are bad, it seems like we are implying students must move up and move out to be successful. This makes me wonder, do we spend enough time encouraging them to move back to the area they grew up in to work? Do our students truly understand the number and variety of jobs available within Hamilton County?
The most recent labor trend study completed by the Nebraska Public Power District tells us that there are 3,556 nonfarm jobs in Hamilton County. In this 2019 study, the industry with the most workers in Hamilton County are service providing in the trade, transportation and utilities sector with 1,037 jobs. The next three largest industries are local government (schools fall in this category) with 549 jobs, manufacturing with 462 jobs, and private sector education and health services with 433 jobs. When I started my career, I heard a story about a rural community in Nebraska that asked the graduating high school valedictorian what jobs they could do if they moved back home to work someday. The student’s response was “I could be a farmer or a teacher.” This town, like Aurora, had a vast number of job opportunities that this student didn’t realize because the only jobs that came to mind were the jobs they had close contact with by living in a farming community and seeing teachers every day at school.
This story shows why it is imperative to the future workforce of our county for everyone to be an advocate for the variety of job opportunities available locally. In addition to talking about what jobs are available we also must talk about why rural Nebraska and specifically Hamilton County is a great place to live.
Family, teachers, coaches, employers, and anyone near our youth needs to share this message because marketing research tells us we need to hear something 20 times before we start to remember it. Many students move away for further education, which is important, but we need doctors, engineers, lawyers, and a variety of other high education, high wage workers in Hamilton County too, which is a message we need to tell.
When I look back at why I ended up working in economic development in Hamilton County, teachers and family members rise to the top as the reason I am here today. Each of us has a reason for why we choose to live here over somewhere else. While those reasons won’t fit every student who graduates from a high school in Hamilton County, we need to make sure our youth know that door is open and full of opportunities for the ones who do have an interest in moving back.
KELSEY BERGEN serves as executive director of the ADC. She can be reached at kelsey@growaurora.com
