Some places will pay workers to move there

A Nebraska city with more job listings than applicants has extended a special offer to employers: It will match signing bonuses for out-of-town hires of up to $5,000.

A county in Michigan is advertising $15,000 payouts to STEM graduates who decide to live in its rural expanses.

And the state of Vermont recently approved a fund to pay $10,000 to employees who relocate there.

This is America’s bidding war for workers, an emerging feature of the increasingly tight labor market from the Midwest to the Northeast. Creative twists on recruitment are popping up as the nation’s unemployment rate keeps sinking. The figure hit an 18-year low of 3.8 percent in May.

Megan McGown, vice president of economic development and marketing at the North Platte Area Chamber and Development, said her Nebraska city — population roughly 24,000 — needs people to work in factories, Unemployment is so low that some cities are having trouble getting enough people to fill jobs, especially in factories and warehouses. This worker is at a production facility in Omaha, Nebraska.

warehouses, medical centers and the railroad. About 500 jobs sit open.

“Those who can work are working, so we’re always in need of additional people,” McGown said. “You can’t drive around town without seeing a ‘help wanted’ sign.”

North Platte’s population hasn’t budged much since 2004. Under this pressure, business leaders and members of the City Council hatched plans to lure more people to town.

First, they offered $12,000 checks to developers for each new house, since they figured continued growth in the area’s health-care and manufacturing industries required more lodging. Then they agreed to match signing bonuses paid to new employees from out of town by up to $5,000. So far, two people have received the bonuses — both for a total of $10,000: a lawyer and a physical therapist. (Workers must make at least $20 an hour to be eligible.)