Lincoln, NE not on good economic list

There's a list out today on Yahoo! News today, showing Lincoln, NE as being maybe in a somewhat precarious economic position:

Five cities where the bubble may burst

The stats and information:

Unemployment rate: 4.1%
Largest employer: The University of Nebraska

As a state capital, Lincoln is usually shielded from the worst effects of bubbles and recessions. As with other state capitals, including Austin, Texas, and Madison, Wis., however, a big part of its stability comes from housing the state's university.

The University of Nebraska employs nearly twice as many people in Lincoln as the state government, and while it's a big part of the reason Lincoln's unemployment rate has fared relatively well compared with that of the rest of the country, it's could also be a weakness if higher education costs ever find a ceiling. According to the nonprofit College Board's annual study of college costs, the average tuition and fees at U.S. public universities have increased at an average of 5.6% per year beyond the rate of inflation. That includes a 9.3% increase in 2009-10 at the height of the recession. As enrollment at state schools rose 33% within the past decade, per-student appropriations dropped 19%.

When those institutions employ large swaths of a city's populace and are under attack, including from low-cost competitors among two-year institutions and a burgeoning online education industry, towns such as Boulder, Colo., Ann Arbor, Mich., and, yes, Lincoln have reason to be concerned.

Another city like this has to be Wichita, Kansas, being so famously dependent on the airplane manufacturing industry.

That's one of the things I've always mentioned and appreciated about Kansas City and the metropolitan area--we aren't directly dependent on only one industry that could bring us down.  Between banking, computers, some car manufacturing, farming and health care, among others, we have a broad base to depend on to hold us up financially and economically, thank goodness.

Have a great weekend, y'all.