DED Helps Propel Nebraska’s Vibrant Economy, Provide Opportunities for the State’s Growing Population

As 2025 draws to a close, the Nebraska Department of Economic Development (DED) celebrates the state’s growth and thanks the agency’s many partners for their support.

Nebraska’s Vibrant Economy and Growing Population

Nebraska is currently seeing strong economic and population growth. From 2019 to 2024, Nebraska’s nominal GDP grew 7.3%, ranking 11th nationally and as the fastest-growing economy in the Midwest. In the federal government’s latest quarterly report on state economic performance (Q2 2025), Nebraska ranked 7th nationally for GDP growth and 4th for personal income growth. From July 2023 to July 2024, Nebraska’s annual population growth rate ranked #2 in the Midwest. Nebraska’s estimated population increase in 2024 was its largest since 1995.

“Nebraska offers affordability, unmatched quality of life, and a wealth of rewarding career opportunities,” said DED Director Maureen Larsen. “The Good Life is open for business!”

Connecting Students to Career Opportunities

Nebraska boasts the nation’s #1 labor force participation rate. The state has also enjoyed nine straight months of record-high employment. As Nebraska’s economy grows, DED is focused on connecting students to the great career opportunities being created in Nebraska.

To this end, the Department hosted the first-ever Governor’s Youth Summit in August 2025. More than 250 high school juniors, seniors, and recent graduates accepted the State’s invitation to attend the free event. These youth met one-on-one with business and college leaders, gaining privileged access to internship, scholarship, and employment opportunities in Nebraska. Over the course of the Youth Summit, students collectively made 1,900+ industry explorations and filled out 300+ applications for career opportunities in Nebraska.

To create pathways to great careers, the state is expanding earn-while-you-learn apprenticeships. In October, DED collaborated with the Governor’s Office, Nebraska Department of Labor, and the Nebraska Manufacturing Council to launch the Good Life, Great Careers initiative. This initiative established a new state Office of Apprenticeships at the Dept. of Labor. It also allocated $7 million to Nebraska’s community colleges to boost the Nebraska’s workforce by creating new apprenticeship programs. The initiative aims to add 6,000 new apprenticeships in Nebraska by 2030, focusing on industries of particular importance to Nebraska—including manufacturing, healthcare, transportation, construction, the bioeconomy, and agriculture.

Supporting Communities in Talent Recruitment and Retention

While connecting Nebraska’s students to great in-state careers, DED is also supporting communities in their efforts to recruit out-of-state talent through The Good Life Is Calling campaign. In February, DED announced its first round of awards through the Nebraska Talent Proposal Initiatives program. Through the program, DED is providing matching funds to communities and businesses for innovative projects to strengthen retention of the state’s graduates and attract out-of-state talent to Nebraska.

Last month, DED also announced the Nebraska Employment, eXploration, and Transition (Nebraska NEXT)talent attraction event strategy through The Good Life Is Calling campaign. Nebraska NEXT links individuals with employers, communities, and resources to help them make the decision to move to Nebraska—or to put down roots in Nebraska and make it their long-term home. The first Nebraska NEXT event took place November 14th at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. This Nebraska NEXT: Collegiate Talent Forum familiarized students in Lincoln with career opportunities and leadership pathways in Nebraska through employer roundtables, panels of mid-career professionals, and informal networking.

Strengthening Partnerships to Grow Nebraska

DED, the Governor’s Office, and the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce launched 6 Regions, One Nebraska (6R1N) in 2024 to encourage cooperation, rather than rivalry, among neighboring communities. The State made an initial financial investment to establish a leadership structure in each region, including a paid, full-time Navigator position to ensure ideas get translated into tangible results. Through 6R1N, the state is empowering leaders to pursue strategies—tailored to their region—to add affordable housing, increase childcare capacity, and attract investment from industry.

DED is fostering public-private collaboration to support the state’s economic development. In 2025, DED successfully applied for $1 million of private foundation funding to support The Good Life Is Calling and 6 Regions, One Nebraska. Additionally, the state’s six regions have collectively raised $684,500 to support 6R1N projects.

While DED focuses on talent recruitment and community collaboration, the agency remains committed to business development. Today, Governor Jim Pillen announced a boost in funding for the state’s Business Innovation Act (BIA) programs, increasing the amount from $12 million annually to $15 million per year. Through BIA programs, the State invests in high-potential, high-tech small businesses at every stage of growth—from seed funding to prototype development to product commercialization. In January 2025, an economic impact study by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Bureau of Business Research confirmed the strong return on investment from the State’s BIA programs. Businesses participating in BIA programs have generated $15.90 of revenue per dollar of State investment.

In 2025, Nebraskans celebrated the milestones of key economic development projects, demonstrating the growth of value-added agriculture in the state.

• In May, Sustainable Beef in North Platte received its first shipment of cattle for processing. The rancher-owned facility is well on its way to processing 1,500 head of cattle per day.
• In June, DARI Processing in Seward broke ground on Nebraska’s first new milk processing facility in 60+ years.
• This year, major soy crush facilities came online in Norfolk (Norfolk Crush) and David City (AGP). Together, these processing plants have capacity to crush more than 250,000 bushels of soybeans every day. These facilities are helping Nebraska capture the full value of the state’s soybean crops—rather than shipping them out of state to be processed elsewhere.
• In recent months, several ethanol plants in Nebraska began carbon capture, storage, and shipment via the Tallgrass Trailblazer carbon pipeline. With the pipeline operational, Nebraska is now able to produce corn ethanol with a lower carbon footprint than anywhere else in the world. That is a huge advantage as the state recruits biofuels producers to Nebraska.

This fall, DED coordinated trade missions to Japan and Israel to promote Nebraska’s value-added ag products. These missions are helping increase the state’s international trade. Nebraska is now the #1 state for U.S. beef exports, surpassing $2 billion of beef exports in 2024. Nebraska also increased pork exports by more than 20% from 2023 to 2024. DED-led trade missions also strengthened relationships with key international investors, such as Kawasaki, while promoting Nebraska’s agricultural technologies, manufacturing, and businesses services.

Whether working to develop the workforce, inspire community collaboration, or support industry, DED is dedicated to enhancing The Good Life for Nebraskans. DED looks forward to working alongside local governments, chambers of commerce, economic development organizations, utility providers, housing agencies, and educational institutions to build on the state’s successes in 2026.