Joblessness slinks into the Midlands (Obama could get Obomaha's lone EC vote)

[Omaha Steve]

Published Tuesday October 21, 2008
Joblessness slinks into the Midlands
BY PAUL GOODSELL
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

The bad news took Mike McMahon by surprise.

Last month, his boss at an Omaha auto dealership told him he would be laid off from his job writing up repair orders.

b"It's a sign of the times, I guess," said McMahon, 54. "They didn't think I would fit into their plans for the future."

Unemployment is up in the Midlands and elsewhere. In Nebraska, it was 3.5 percent in August, compared to 3.1 percent a year earlier. Iowa was 4.6 percent, up from 3.8.

Overall, the U.S. unemployment rate was 6.1 percent. A year ago, it was 4.7 percent.

Just in the past month, companies have announced layoffs affecting hundreds of Midlands workers: Eaton Corp. in Kearney. Oriental Trading in Omaha. Cabela's in Sidney. Whirlpool Corp. in Amana, Iowa.

And economists predict that local unemployment will get worse as the nation slides into a recession.

"Nebraska is tied to the national pattern," said Eric Thompson, director of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Bureau of Business Research. "It's not going to be a strong economy."

But Thompson and others also said the Midlands is buffered somewhat from national trends, partly because agriculture is fairly healthy and partly because the local economy isn't built around businesses that fly high and crash hard.

"We don't boom, we don't bust," said Scott Strain, senior director of research for the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce.

FULL story at link.

[Thrill]

1. Oh Mr. Hagel. Where ar eyou?