Ranked in the top 10 of the Brookings Institution’s “America’s Most Recession-Resistant Cities” list, Greater Omaha is an excellent city in which to do business. In fact, Site Selection magazine ranked Omaha eighth on its “Top U.S. Metros for Corporate Real Estate Projects in 2009.” The favorable business climate extends throughout the state of Nebraska, where according to Pollina Corporate Real Estate, Nebraska is one of the top 10 pro-business states.

Learn more about Greater Omaha's Business Climate, Employment, Fortune 500 Headquarters, Major Employers, Business Establishments and Net Taxable Sales.

Business Climate
Overall, the case for doing business in Greater Omaha remains strong. Forbes magazine recently ranked Omaha first among "America’s Fastest-Recovering Cities” and Nebraska ninth on its “Best States for Business” list. The state of Nebraska consistently ranks at or near the top of all states for fiscal fitness and legal climate.

Greater Omaha’s economy benefits from solid population and labor force growth with a relatively diverse industry mix. Greater Omaha has a history of strong business-government partnerships in area development projects. Since 2004, this cooperative redevelopment has resulted in nearly $8 billion in new investment metro-wide. In the past decade, the downtown area has seen more than $2 billion in development investment.

Employment
The eight counties that comprise Greater Omaha have a labor force totaling 450,975, of which approximately 428,835 are employed. The table below summarizes Greater Omaha’s labor force trends over the past several years. Since 1990, the area has added over 91,000 people to its labor force.

Greater Omaha Labor Force/Work Force Trends
Employment by Place of Residence	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Labor Force Total	440,304	441,934	447,873	455,411	450,975
Total Employed Workers	421,174	426,675	432,809	438,875	428,835
Unemployment	19,130	15,259	15,064	16,536	22,140
Unemployment Rate	4.3%	3.5%	3.4%	3.6%	4.9%

Employment by Place of Work (jobs)	448,800	456,800	463,600	469,800	459,100
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

The table below shows Greater Omaha’s employment distribution by industry compared to the nation.

Employment Distribution by Industry - 2009
(number of jobs in thousands)
Industry	Greater Omaha		United States
Industry	Number of Jobs	Percentage	Number of Jobs	Percentage
Construction/Mining	23.9	5.2%	6,737	5.1%
Manufacturing	31.5	6.9%	11,883	9.1%
Trade, Transportation and Utilities	95.2	20.7%	24,949	19.1%
Information	11.5	2.5%	2,807	2.1%
Financial Activities	39.9	8.7%	7,758	5.9%
Professional and Business Services	62.6	13.6%	16,580	12.7%
Education and Healthcare Services	68.8	15.0%	19,191	14.7%
Leisure and Hospitality	44.6	9.7%	13,102	10.0%
Other Services	16.8	3.7%	5,364	4.1%
Government	64.4	14.0%	22,549	17.2%
Total Employment	459.1	100.0%	130,920	100.0%
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Greater Omaha has a higher concentration of its employment in financial activities, (Omaha – 8.7 percent vs. U.S. – 5.9 percent); trade, transportation and utilities (20.7 percent vs. 19.1 percent); information (2.5 percent vs. 2.1 percent). This is offset by a relatively smaller share of total employment in the manufacturing (6.9 percent vs. 9.1 percent) and government (14.0 percent vs. 17.2 percent) sectors.

Looking at the past decade, Greater Omaha experienced solid growth, despite two recessions at the national level. The Greater Omaha area added 17,500 jobs from 2000 to 2009, a nearly 4 percent increase. The education and healthcare sector (+26.2 percent), the other services sector (+18.3 percent) and the financial activities sector (+11.8 percent) led the job growth.

In 2009, Greater Omaha saw job growth in the government sector (+3.7 percent), the education and healthcare services sector (+1.5 percent) and the other services sector (+0.6 percent).

The strength of Greater Omaha’s economy can also be seen in its unemployment rate, which is consistently lower than the national unemployment rate. The 2009 annual unemployment rate for Greater Omaha was 4.9 percent and 4.6 percent for the state of Nebraska, both less than the U.S. rate of 9.3 percent.

The following table shows the unemployment rate trends for Greater Omaha, Nebraska and the nation.

Unemployment Rate Trends
Year	Omaha	NE	US
2000	2.8	2.8	4.0
2001	3.3	3.1	4.7
2002	3.9	3.7	5.8
2003	4.3	4.0	6.0
2004	4.3	3.9	5.5
2005	4.3	3.9	5.1
2006	3.5	3.0	4.6
2007	3.4	2.9	4.6
2008	3.6	3.3	5.8
2009	4.9	4.6	9.3
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Fortune 500 Headquarters
Greater Omaha is home to the headquarters of five Fortune 500 companies.

Berkshire Hathaway (#11) – Berkshire Hathaway is a conglomerate headquartered in Omaha and operated by its legendary CEO Warren Buffett. The company has actively acquired whole companies compiling a docket of some of America’s most well-known companies and brands. Insurance subsidiaries include National Indemnity Company, GEICO and reinsurance giant General Re Corporation. The company also owns MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, the parent company of Northern Natural Gas, MidAmerican Energy, CalEnergy Generation and PacifiCorp. Borsheim’s, Nebraska Furniture Mart, McLane, Dairy Queen and Clayton Homes also top the list of those owned by Berkshire Hathaway. Many of the subsidiaries have strong ties to Omaha – including headquarters, operations centers and retail outlets.
Union Pacific Corporation (#164) – The largest railroad in North America, Union Pacific operates in 23 states with a rail system that links every major West Coast and Gulf Coast port, and serves major gateways to the east. It’s also the primary rail connection between the U.S. and Mexico.

ConAgra Foods, Inc. (#178) – This international diversified food giant operates across the entire food chain and beyond, with major companies doing business in such areas as crop protection, food processing and consumer frozen foods (i.e. Healthy Choice, Hunt’s, Chef Boyardee, Orville Redenbacher), as well as financial companies specializing in commodity futures brokerage services, cattle feeding financial services, transportation financing and insurance services.

Peter Kiewit Sons’, Inc. (#238) - One of the nation’s largest general contractors, this privately owned company has divisions engaged in telecommunications, coal mining, independent energy, infrastructure development and data services.

Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company (#408) - A full-service, multi-line provider of insurance and financial services products, Mutual of Omaha offers products and services that provide financial protection to help families, individuals, businesses and groups achieve their goals. The company offers annuities and retirement plans, banking, critical illness, dental insurance, disability insurance, employee benefit plans, investments, life insurance, long-term care insurance, Medicare supplement insurance and voluntary/worksite products.

In addition, more than 50 Fortune 500 companies maintain major manufacturing plants or service operations in the Greater Omaha area. These include companies such as Kellogg’s, Lockheed Martin, Tyson Foods, 3M, Aflac, Google, First Data, Pacific Life and Northrop Grumman and Yahoo!.

Corporate Headquarters
Greater Omaha is also home to a broad range of corporate headquarters. Companies from all industry sectors find Omaha an excellent place to conduct business – Werner, TD Ameritrade, HDR, Inc., infoGROUP, Omaha Steaks and Valmont to name just a few. There are also more than two dozen insurance companies domiciled in Greater Omaha. Over half of the two dozen telemarketing/direct response/reservation centers operating in Greater Omaha also have their corporate headquarters located here.

Major Employers
Greater Omaha is fortunate to maintain numerous large employers, the top being Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue, which employs approximately 9,000 military and civilian workers. Major private employers include Alegent Health, Methodist Health System, First Data, Union Pacific, First National Bank of Omaha, ConAgra Foods, Mutual of Omaha and PayPal. See the table below for a list of Greater Omaha’s Top 25 Largest Employers, based on employment.

Greater Omaha's Top 25 Largest Employers
Offutt Air Force Base	7,500+
Alegent Health	7,500+
Omaha Public Schools	7,500+
The Nebraska Medical Center	5,000+
Methodist Health System	5,000+
First Data	5,000+
Union Pacific	2,500+
University of Nebraska Medical Center	2,500+
West Corp.	2,500+
First National Bank of Omaha	2,500+
Mutual of Omaha	2,500+
ConAgra Foods	2,500+
Creighton University	2,500+
City of Omaha	2,500+
University of Nebraska at Omaha	2,500+
PayPal	2,500+
Millard Public Schools	2,500+
Target Stores	2,500+
Omaha Public Power District	1,000-2,499
Douglas County	1,000-2,499
Omaha World-Herald	1,000-2,499
Children's Hospital & Medical Center	1,000-2,499
TD AMERITRADE	1,000-2,499
Omaha Steaks	1,000-2,499
Peter Kiewit Sons' Inc.	1,000-2,499
Source: Greater Omaha Chamber

Business Establishments
Greater Omaha’s County Business Pattern data reflects continued growth throughout the eight-county area. Between 1990 and 2007, the number of business establishments increased 29 percent. (This does not include the self-employed, employees of private households, or railroad, agricultural production and most government employees.) Most business establishments are small businesses with approximately 53 percent of all establishments having fewer than five employees, more than 85 percent with fewer than 20 employees and 3 percent with 100 or more workers.

Greater Omaha Business Establishments
	1990		2007		Percent Change
	Number of Establishments	Payroll ($1000)	Number of Establishments	Payroll ($1000)	1990 - 2007
Total	17,363	5,822,108	22,395	15,739,895	29.0%
Cass County, NE	384	38,149	548	95,915	42.7%
Douglas County, NE	12,450	4,854,691	15,033	12,918,069	20.7%
Sarpy County, NE	1,429	422,303	3,076	1,329,485	115.3%
Saunders County, NE	370	28,934	503	102,807	35.9%
Washington County, NE	411	52,277	553	224,448	34.5%
Harrison County, IA	327	28,455	366	78,704	11.9%
Mills, County, IA	230	47,492	291	53,981	26.5%
Pottawattamie County, IA	1,782	349,807	2,025	936,486	13.6%
Source: County Business Patterns, 1990 and 2007, U.S. Department of Commerce

Net Taxable Sales
Although net taxable sales posted a modest decline in 2009, the overall trend since 1990 indicates steady, stable growth in commercial activity. Net taxable sales include sales receipts of all goods subject to the Nebraska state sales tax, except food items sold in grocery stores and prescription drugs, which are not subject to sales tax in Nebraska. Net taxable sales are Greater Omaha’s proxy measure for retail sales.

Net taxable sales of motor vehicles, which is counted separately from net taxable sales, is collected in the county in which the vehicle is subsequently registered. 2009 Motor vehicle sales posted results nearly in-line with the 2008 level.

*Greater Omaha Net Taxable Sales**
Year	Total Net Taxable Sales (000)	Net Taxable Sales of Motor Vehicles (000)
1980	$2,589,068	$223,377
1990	$4,055,334	$499,033
2000	$7,006,016	$970,867
2001	$7,241,327	$1,133,659
2002	$7,331,540	$1,164,841
2003	$7,667,430	$1,171,888
2004	$8,365,580	$1,124,848
2005	$8,669,035	$1,055,036
2006	$8,796,364	$1,013,663
2007	$9,116,077	$1,092,087
2008	$9,349,486	$1,093,683
2009	$8,974,240	$1,093,115
*Nebraska Counties of MSA (Cass, Douglas, Sarpy, Washington, Saunders)
Source: Nebraska Department of Revenue