LINCOLN, Neb.—The “Good Life” touted in Nebraska is in jeopardy for thousands of residents who increasingly are struggling to meet basic needs, according to a wide-ranging report the Nebraska Appleseed Center released Thursday.
The report says more than one quarter of Nebraska’s families and nearly one-third of the state’s children are poor, too few Nebraskans have higher education, and prospects for high-paying jobs are dim in the state.
“Despite our dedication to building the ‘Good Life,’ Nebraska faces several challenges, including the slowing economy, out-migration trends, increasing global competition, and a lack of quality jobs,” the report concludes.
The report, which mostly relies on data from 2006, is part of a national initiative to assess state policies called The Working Poor Families Project. It is sponsored by the Annie E. Casey, Ford, Joyce, and Charles Stewart Mott Foundations.
Appleseed is a nonprofit that addresses social ills through legal advocacy, education and policy expertise. It bills itself as nonpartisan, but often suggests, as it does in the report released Thursday, that government do more to address social problems.
Highlights of the report:
— Low-Income Families: Nearly 30 percent of families in the state are considered low-income, which is worse than the national average, according to the U.S. Census. Also, about one-third of all children in the state belong to low-income families, according to Census figures.
About 22 percent of Nebraska families have a parent without a high school diploma, according to Census figures. And more than half of the low-income families in Nebraska are married couples with or without children.
Authors of the report recommend that improvements in access to education and better availability of good-paying jobs would help low-income families.
— Education: About 28 percent of Nebraskans age 25 and older had a college bachelor’s degree in 2007, according to U.S. Census data. That’s up from 23.7 percent in 2000.
Among the recommendations Appleseed offers in the report is to increase state investment in financial aid and give more money to community colleges so they can provide child care, transportation and mentoring so they can retain more students.
The group also says an outreach program is needed to draw more low-skill and low-income workers into educational programs.
One highlight in the state, according to the report: 40 percent of residents ages 18 to 24 are enrolled in post-secondary schools, ranking the state 18th highest nationally.
— Jobs: More than one in five Nebraskans have jobs pay below the federal poverty level, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And of the 10 fastest-growing occupations in the state, only one—registered nurse—pays an average wage high enough to support a family of four, according to Appleseed’s analysis of statistics from the Nebraska Department of Labor.
Appleseed recommends changing and expanding state programs designed to spur job growth, so they encourage higher-paying jobs. State officials have said in the past a new tier of a tax break program for businesses is designed to do that by providing more breaks to companies that create high-paying jobs.
The report reinforces long-standing notions of Nebraska as a hardworking state, saying that it ranks near the top in the nation in the percentage of people who work and who hold more than one job.
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