It’s hard to believe that it has been 17 years since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. I came to the realization this week that many of the men and women that are about to enter the workforce will never have a true understanding about how the country felt that day and how it responded. New York is still responding to this day and, even though the skyline will never quite be the same, there are new buildings in their place paying tribute to those who lost their lives that day.
Read moreThe Top States to Work in Construction: #27 Georgia
Georgia is located in one of the hottest regions for construction activity, the Southeastern Region. Atlanta, in particular, has experienced a bit of a construction boom recently, which could spell some pay increases for workers across they state, as the labor shortage is still a problem.
Read moreBricklaying Robot Being Used on 3-Story Nevada Building
One of the very first articles I wrote over 3 years ago was about SAM, the Semi-Automated Mason, which is a bricklaying robot. Since that time, SAM, which is made by Construction Robotics, has seen several jobsites, according to their portfolio page. Their most recent project at the University of Nevada has put the technology back in the headlines.
Read moreUS Department of Labor Launches New Apprenticeship Finder Tool for Career Seekers, Employers
For the past several years, workforce shortages have been a constant headline in the construction industry. A large contingency of the skilled labor in the United States is retiring and the younger generations aren’t filling in as quickly as needed.
Read moreVirginia OSHA Cites Contractor for $304K for Silica Dust Violations, Possibly Largest in Rule History
OSHA had to fight hard to finally get its relatively new crystalline silica dust exposure regulations passed, and, once it did, the agency wasted no time enforcing the law. In the regulations first 6 months, OSHA issued 116 violations, but the highest penalty at that point was $9,239. More recently, the Virginia Occupational Safety and Health Compliance Division (VOSH) has possibly issued a record citation to a highway contractor, a whopping $304,130 penalty.
Read moreTech Company, Oracle, Opens Construction Innovation Lab to Test Promising Technology
We’ve heard a lot of promising developments on construction technologies in the past few years, many of which will not only make the industry more efficient, but create a much higher quality product. Testing this technology inside of a controlled facility, however, doesn’t quite paint an entire picture for how the product will perform on a constantly evolving jobsite.
Read moreThe Top States to Work in Construction: #28 Nebraska
For the past year, Construction Junkie has been analyzing hourly wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 25 different construction related professions. The goal was to highlight how workers were compensated in each of the U.S.’ 50 states.
We also counterbalanced the raw hourly wage data with the cost of living index of the states to determine how the pay construction workers in each state was counterbalanced by the cost of groceries, housing, utilities, transportation, health, and other miscellaneous costs. All cost of living adjustment data came from Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (MERIC).
We’ve previously published a list of The 10 Highest Paid Construction Jobs That Only Require High School Diploma, but we thought it would be interesting to examine each state individually to find out where construction workers can live most comfortably.
To follow along with our state-by-state breakdown of best states to work in construction, click here.
Rankings System
For the purpose of this list, each state’s ranking was determined by calculating the average ranking of hourly wages after being adjusted for cost of living for each of the 25 professions we examined. There are, of course, many ways to determine how good a state is to work in, but, at the end of the day, all workers have to be able to provide for them and their families, so wages should play a large role. If you see a state ranked #51 in a certain category, that is because Washington DC was included in the original data set, but was not included in this series.
#28 Nebraska
Like Montana, which is ranked #30, Nebraska is another state with a high total land area and a smaller population. Unlike Montana, Nebraska has a lower-than-average cost of living, at 8.2% lower than the national average, according to MERIC.
Nebraska has two construction professions in the top 10, including brick & block masons and floor layers. They also do not have any profession ranked lower than 39, which is reserved for carpenters.
If you’d like to see the breakdown of a specific profession, click the link the spreadsheet below:
Best Construction Jobs in Nebraska
This list is determined by selecting the jobs that were ranked the highest:
1. Floor Layer
2. Brick & Block Mason
3. Plumber
4. Construction Manager
5. Sheet Metal Worker
Worst Construction Jobs in Nebraska
This list is determined by selecting the jobs ranked the lowest:
1. Carpenter
2. Iron & Steel Worker
3. Security and Fire Systems Installer
4. Crane Operator
5. Heavy Equipment Operator
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