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Labor Market Pulse
NE NONMETROPOLITAN AREA Edition
Focus: FINANCE
Nonmetro Nebraska controller and FP&A pay slide as national pay holds.
2.9%
Nebraska unemployment rate
vs 4.1% national, unchanged from July
$96,405
Controller advertised pay, metro
vs $112,500 national median, trending down
-1,400 jobs
Financial Activities employment
Statewide, over trailing 12 months
1.4
Candidates per job opening
Statewide NEworks data, tight supply
This Month's Takeaways
Local controller pay is falling as national pay holds firm.
Metro Controller advertised pay sits at $96,405 against a stable $112,500 national median, a widening gap that may signal nonmetro employers under-pricing a role increasingly benchmarked against remote and hybrid opportunities. Retention risk grows if incumbents recognize the spread.
FP&A Manager pay softening locally cuts against a national AI premium story.
Metro FP&A Manager pay is down moderately to $122,293 even as national demand for AI-literate forecasting talent is pushing premiums as high as 56% for related skills elsewhere. Nonmetro finance teams risk losing forecasting talent to markets pricing in automation skill sets.
Credit Analyst and Tax Specialist roles show the sharpest local-national divergence.
Both roles show significant local declines (Credit Analyst to $55,000, Tax Specialist to $45,596) while national medians move up moderately to significantly. Consider evaluating whether these roles are becoming harder to fill locally, or whether postings are simply lagging market reality.
Statewide Financial Activities employment contraction is a quiet budgeting signal.
A 1,400-job decline over 12 months statewide in Financial Activities, even amid overall payroll growth, is consistent with finance functions consolidating or automating rather than expanding headcount. This may ease near-term hiring pressure but raises succession-planning questions for controller and analyst pipelines.
Local Labor Conditions
Rural Nebraska's labor market stays historically tight, with the statewide unemployment rate holding at 2.9% in August and roughly 1.4 candidates per open role statewide, leaving nonmetro employers competing for a shrinking applicant pool. Finance and accounting-adjacent hiring in the region is complicated further by a 1,400-job decline in Financial Activities employment over the past 12 months statewide, even as Private Education and Health Services continues to absorb available labor.
Leadership & Talent Implications
Persistent labor scarcity in nonmetro Nebraska means Finance functions are competing not just on pay but on role scope and flexibility to fill controller, FP&A, and analyst seats, and the 12-month contraction in Financial Activities employment statewide suggests some organizations are consolidating finance headcount rather than expanding it. Advertised pay for Controller ($96,405 metro median) and FP&A Manager ($122,293) both trending down locally while national medians hold stable points to a metro-specific compression that could complicate retention if talent benchmarks against national postings. Consider reviewing whether current controller and FP&A offers are being anchored to outdated local pay data rather than the national trend line remote-capable candidates now see.
