Rarely would those of us on the East Coast look to Lincoln, Nebraska as a leading indicator of our own future. But while many East Coast communities have yet to attain full employment, Lincoln is already there. As reported in the Wall Street Journal, this Midwestern capital now boasts an unemployment rate of just two point three percent, one of the lowest jobless rates in the nation.
It’s one of thirty one U.S. metropolitan areas from Portsmouth, New Hampshire to Provo, Utah with an unemployment rate below three percent, far better than five percent, which in the unemployment rate in Maryland and nationally. The presumption is that as the labor market continues to improve, unemployment here and in other parts of the country will continue to dip, helping to push wage growth higher.
If Lincoln is any indication, wage inflation could be much more brisk than many people anticipate. During this past summer, average hourly earnings in the Lincoln, Nebraska metropolitan area surged by nearly eleven percent from a year earlier.
Nationally, wage growth was a bit better than two percent. One of the reasons for Lincoln’s rapid wage growth is that when unemployment is so low, workers are more likely to look for better, higher paying opportunities.
