Study Shows Eight Percent of Nebraska Workers Currently Remote
By Aaron Bonderson 
, Report for America Reporter/Producer Nebraska Public Media
May 25, 2021, 2:20 p.m. ·
Not as many Nebraska workers are away from the office as you might think. That’s according to new research by the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Center for Public Affairs Research. In early 2021, fully remote workers made up only eight percent of the workforce in Nebraska.
Director Josie Schafer says some jobs or industries can easily move to remote work more so than others.
“Professional and technical occupations were much more able to transition to remote work…than many other jobs in the Nebraska economy, including service jobs and agriculture,” Schafer said.
She says the findings are an indicator of a diverse economy in the state. The percentage of remote workers is down from May 2020. At that time, 16-percent of the state’s workers were fully remote.
Schafer says those who adapted to remote work may be more resilient and better suited to work around the country.
Most remote workers have come from high-paying jobs. In contrast, people with an annual income less than the Nebraska average were much more likely to get laid off.
The compilation of this data by the university comes from a survey by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.