December 15 was the statutory deadline for committee submission of final reports of reviews in compliance with the Occupational Board Reform Act (LB299, 2018). Although two committee reports have yet to be uploaded on the Legislature’s website, it appears that the change in the scheduling of the legislative session (as a result of COVID) and...
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis has released state Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures for the third quarter of 2020, with the welcome news that every state experienced a return to growth. Nebraska registered an annualized 33.2% GDP growth rate. The country as a whole saw a similar percentage increase, at 33.4%. GDP is a...
Economists with the Omaha branch of the Kansas City Federal Reserve suggest that at year-end, there are still challenges ahead for small businesses in the Cornhusker State. The analysis points out the strength of Nebraska’s COVID recovery thus far: relatively low employment throughout the year, with even the increased numbers that were seen in April,...
In November, Nebraska’s state unemployment rate increased slightly to 3.1%, according to the Nebraska Department of Labor. The jobless rate still ties Nebraska with Vermont for the country’s lowest rate. In October, Nebraska had a 3% unemployment rate. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics would say that the difference between 3% and 3.1% is not...
On Monday, President Trump signed an executive order which urges the continued work of states and localities in the area of occupational licensing. This would include states like Nebraska and Iowa, who have been toiling for several years in this arena. While most occupational licensing takes place at the state level (and, so, problems with...
Emily Hamilton, a Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University joined Adam Weinberg to discuss her new Plate Institute policy brief, Build More Housing: Land Use Reform Opportunities for Nebraska’s Cities.
Introduction Across the U.S., local zoning ordinances limit the amount of housing that can be built within their jurisdictions and drive up costs for housing that is permitted. These regulations are particularly burdensome for low-income households.1 The effects of land use regulations on housing costs are largest in high-cost coastal regions, but the ubiquity of...
This article from the Lincoln Journal Star popped up in my notifications a bit ago, and while the first section talks primarily about COVID-19 response and plans at the University of Nebraska, here’s one excerpt that struck me as the most interesting. Ted Carter, the University of Nebraska president, is also a retired U.S. Navy...
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed many unreasonable rules that made it difficult for Nebraskans to access health care. With the need for social distancing guidelines, telehealth represented a reasonable means to help prevent transmission of the virus while delivering quality care. Across the country and in Nebraska, governors temporarily repealed telehealth regulations that blocked access to...
In a letter addressed to the governors of Iowa and Nebraska, and state legislators, the leaders of two Midwestern policy organizations propose that both states can improve their economic response to the COVID-19 recession by adopting each other’s recent professional licensing reform legislation. Platte Institute Chief Executive Officer Jim Vokal and Iowans for Tax Relief...
As sometimes happens when you’re reading stories online, you stumble across things you’d never seen from months ago. In this case, I ran into this article from Forbes—published in January of this year—which talks about a study by Atlas Van Lines that tracked migration patterns in the country in 2019. The study found that in...
A recent Wall Street Journal article opens with this line: “The coronavirus destroyed jobs. It also created entrepreneurs.” Although the economy has struggled throughout the pandemic, the challenges have opened up new opportunities for some, as well. “As horrible as [the pandemic] is, and as badly as it has affected so many people, it has...
The Nebraska Department of Labor reports that the state’s October 2020 unemployment rate declined to 3%, which ranks as the country’s lowest for the third consecutive month. Nebraska’s unemployment rate fell 0.6% from September to October, with non-farm employment increasing by 8,912. Nebraska has not seen an unemployment rate this low since before the pandemic...
A new study from Arizona State University’s Center for the Study of Economic Liberty (CSEL) focuses on the “regulatory capture” of cosmetology licensing boards around the country. It shows the Nebraska cosmetology board ranked in the middle of the 34-place pack (multiple states are tied for ranks). Regulatory capture in occupational licensing refers to the...