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Bureau of Business Research to Host Spring Webinar Series

Bureau of Business Research to Host Spring Webinar Series
The Bureau of Business Research (BBR) at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln announced its spring webinar series featuring five webinars that are free and open to the public. Dr. Eric Thompson, director of the BBR and W.W. Marshall Associate Professor of Economics, leads each discussion. Attendees can register for one or multiple webinars at http://bbr.unl.edu.

“These free webinars provide attendees the full story behind BBR reports on key economic topics. Attendees have the opportunity to ask questions and share their thoughts during the Q&A session,” said Thompson.

Thompson will kickoff the series with “The Economic Impact of the Nebraska Insurance Industry,” on February 17. The webinar reviews the insurance industry’s contribution to the state economy including a wage profile of the industry, data on retaining and attracting workers to Nebraska, wage and employment opportunities created for various state industries and the impact of state and local tax revenues.

On Friday, March 31, the “Highway Spending in Nebraska” webinar will explore the differences between highway spending and investment and the influence of highway spending on economic development. Thompson will also discuss how to evaluate highway spending in rural states such as Nebraska.

“The Producer Services Industry” webinar on Friday, April 28 will examine recent developments in Nebraska’s producer services industry. The producer services industry – which includes businesses that provide services to other businesses – is the fastest growing source of high-wage jobs in the United States economy. Thompson will discuss the growth of the industry both nationally and in Nebraska and their potential for faster growth.

“The Omaha Barometer” webinar will be hosted on Friday, May 19. Describing the results of the 2017 edition of the Omaha Barometer, Thompson will share analysis of the performance of Omaha’s economy in terms of economic growth, human capital, private capital, infrastructure, innovation, entrepreneurship, the cost of doing business and the quality of life. This report is developed through a partnership with the Omaha Chamber of Commerce, and the webinar will also explore any changes in the Omaha Barometer rankings between 2016 and 2017. 

The final webinar in the series is “The Nebraska Economic Forecast” on Friday, June 9. The webinar will examine the newly released economic outlook for Nebraska, a forecast created by the Nebraska Business Forecast Council. Key points of this report include outlook on farm income and non-farm employment, as well as expectations for industries such as manufacturing, construction and health care, retail, finance and producer services. Thompson will also discuss the national economic outlook and expected trends in both personal income and taxable sales in Nebraska.

The webinar series is one of the bureau’s numerous outreach efforts to help people understand research relevant to businesses and families across the state. The BBR is housed in the Department of Economics in the College of Business Administration.
Published: February 15, 2017