When Gov. Jim Pillen last month announced he was convening a group dedicated to examining Nebraska’s labor shortage, the list of people included in that group came as no surprise.

Representatives of state employers, business groups, universities — including the University of Nebraska — and chambers of commerce will all have a seat at the table, in addition to three state senators and the Department of Economic Development director.

Indeed, outgoing NU President Ted Carter, who will serve as a representative on the working group, said “it will take all partners involved to come up with innovative ideas to grow our state’s workforce.”

If that is the goal — to include all partners — it appears there is one crucial group missing from this equation: The state’s young people, the very demographic such an endeavor should be looking to attract to Nebraska.

While colleges and universities will be represented — in addition to NU, Concordia University, Metropolitan Community College, the Nebraska State College System and the Nebraska Community College Association are all participating — this task force would do well to draw input directly from the source.

Many hold up soaring property taxes as the No. 1 obstacle to keeping — or attracting — a vibrant workforce, but it’s wrong to assume that young people feel the same way.

Frankly, taxes are not often at front of mind for many people in their 20s.

To that end, we hope this task force can approach the state’s labor shortage with an open mind and broad vision and with an honest search for answers. Real solutions involve dialogue, not just meetings between policy-makers and high-level administrators.

What they may find is that more pressing and practical concerns need to be addressed first: Affordable housing, access to a post-secondary education and more.

For some, the worker crisis is tied intrinsically to immigration and the need for reform.

“The worker crisis is the border crisis,” Christine Scullion, a U.S. Chamber of Commerce executive said at last month’s Federal Legislative Summit last month in Ashland. “They’re one in the same, in a lot of ways. And there are ways to fix the border and there are things that we should do, but we also need to be addressing the fact that there need to be workers here.”

Such issues may be out of the purview of Pillen’s task force, and Nebraska’s congressional delegation in attendance at the summit signaled securing the border must come first.

But taking a broad, big-picture look at one of the state’s most pressing issues — and asking out-of-the-box questions that truly involve all parties, including young Nebraskans — is the first step to turning the corner.

This editorial first appeared in the Lincoln Journal Star on September 6, 2023. It was distributed by The Associated Press.