LEXINGTON — Dawson County students got a chance to see what kind of opportunities await them after they graduate from high school during the Dawson Area College and Career Fair in Lexington on Wednesday, Feb. 14.
The annual event is organized by Dawson Area Development (DAD) and was hosted again at the Orthman Community YMCA.
Scott Foster, DAD Assistant Director, said over 700 students from Lexington, Cozad and Gothenburg attended the event, while over 50 different area businesses and colleges were represented.
Foster said one attending group said that this was the largest college and career fair that they attend in the area. He added that they saw major growth from a year ago when 400 students participated.
The goal for the students was twofold, Foster said, they got a chance to see what types of careers and opportunities were available locally and what type of education they would need.
As for employers, it gave them a chance to market and fill different positions. Foster said businesses are still expressing a pressing need for workers.
It has been noted at the state level and by Governor Jim Pillen that it is important to keep these students in the state to be a part of the workforce. The brain drain out of Nebraska has long been an issue many throughout the state have sought to address through a variety of methods.
The job market the students will be entering after they graduate from high school or secondary education is quite different from conditions just 10 years ago.
Research of private sector data shows during the worst years of the Great Recession, from 2007 to 2009, overall employment fell around five percent. During those same two years, temp jobs plummeted by 30 percent.
The effects of the recession continued to linger for years, there is anecdotal evidence of job seekers turning in dozens of applications but having no takers.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic triggered one of the worst job crises not seen since the Great Recession or even the Great Depression of the 1930s. Many people also changed where they worked due to several of the numerous factors brought on by the pandemic.
Three years later, the job market is now more competitive than ever and the need for quality employees has been an issue affecting many industries. Labor force participation rates declined following COVID and have not yet fully recovered.
“Among working age adults, the rate of labor force participation is 0.7 percentage points lower than its pre-pandemic peak of 83.1 percent,” according to the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise.
Since the start of the pandemic, 20 percent of workers have changed careers, according to a survey from Prudential. 46 percent of employees are considering a career change, per data collected by Microsoft.
