BELLEVUE, Nebraska — No issue other than property taxes has dominated discussion in Nebraska’s governor’s race more this year than how to help local businesses recruit and retain more workers.

Except perhaps for immigration.

This is the second of three installments from the Nebraska Examiner interviewing the candidates for governor from both major parties about several key issues. For today, we asked how they would address the state’s labor shortage and what role, if any, immigration should play in helping the state do so.

Here are the answers from the Democratic nominee, State Sen. Carol Blood, and the Republican nominee, University of Nebraska Regent Jim Pillen. Their responses have been edited for brevity and clarity:

Q: Ag and other Nebraska businesses face shortages of labor, including roles often filled by immigrants. What role, if any, should the state play in encouraging or discouraging this hiring? How would you address the labor shortage?

Blood: We all know that’s a federal issue. I wish that they would quit all the shenanigans at the federal level and get down to business, because we need to have people have an easier path to citizenship, and we need to have people here legally. That’s what workers want, too. We also … need to change the dialogue. Our executive branch seems to think it’s about bad-mouthing the federal government. I think that hurts our state.

All of our chambers (of commerce) are very much in favor of creating pathways to citizenship and show you the financial impact that immigrants have in Nebraska. You look at the (University of Nebraska) Med Center, you can’t walk down the hallway without bumping into a doctor from another country. Because we have a workforce shortage, they come in on their work VISAs. We should be making it easier for people like that to come and help us because we have a workforce shortage. Our hospitality industry would go in the dumpster without immigration. Our ag industry, our manufacturing, our meatpacking, they need (people).

Look at how low our unemployment rate is. What I hated during the primary is a lot of people, my opponent included, came out saying the opposite. Now everybody is reeling it in. I’ve said this from the very beginning, you know, we’re talking about human beings. What they do for our tax base is they give us millions to tens of millions of dollars. We would be in trouble if we didn’t have that. Part of our tax problem is that our population is really low.

Immigration has been made a way to scare people … because if we make you scared of something … then we never have to solve real problems. I’ve had a lot of really serious conversations about immigration, especially in our more rural areas. … I have yet to talk to somebody who doesn’t say that they understand that people need to be here legally and we need to give them a way to be here legally. We’ve got to lead by example. We’ve got to use better language and compassion. We’ve got to start forcing our federal representatives to get busy.

Pillen: There are a couple things that are really, really important. I think the state needs to make an investment in marketing and bragging about our state. We have an extraordinary number of incredibly smart people in all 93 counties who have the innovation, the entrepreneurship, the risk-taking that created great businesses in all disciplines and incredible jobs … and created a lot of wealth. As I say, who knows about it? Nobody.

The first step is we’ve got to keep all of our kids. We’ve got to stop the brain drain, and the kids that are not honor roll and scholarship recipients, they have to be trained for the 21st century workforce. We can’t have them enter into the workforce right out of school. They’ve got to become a certified welder, electrician or plumber, and we have to do that differently — with businesses leading and farmers and ranchers leading the way to pay for that. That’s a key.

Then obviously, I’m a big-time proponent that we need to make sure that there’s some really, really good workforce VISA programs. They’ve got to be embraced and then the federal government’s got to do their job. You need to reform immigration. We have to secure the border and keep our country secure. But we need to have a great immigration policy because growing this country, the ability to create value, is huge.

We are the best in the world at agriculture. We feed the world and we save the planet. We need more help to keep creating more value around-the-clock for food security and energy security.

Q: What steps should Nebraska take to recruit and retain the young people businesses say they need to compete? How would you include their voices in these plans? What about Dreamers or DACA folks, people brought to the country illegally as kids?

Blood: That’s why we talk about strategic planning. I would bring everybody together, no matter who they are, where they live, what they look like, where they come from or how they identify. I think young people definitely believe that their voices aren’t heard, and that’s why they can be apathetic voters. … We don’t make them feel welcome. The No. 1 reason that people leave the state … has nothing to do with property taxes, because they can’t even afford to buy a house. It has to do with better job opportunities.

So in order to keep our 18- to- 34-year-olds … I think there are two things we need to do. One of the things we need to do is build generational wealth, because this whole demographic has missed out on that. Those are things we can without raising taxes. Public-private partnerships can encourage people to learn how to build personal wealth.

We have to give them good opportunities at good-paying jobs, with good benefits and a retirement. We also have to give them good access to health care and transportation. Look at the urban areas … can they hop on a bus? Can they get in a bike lane? That doesn’t seem important to a lot of people, but it’s important to this demographic, especially for those that feel the climate crisis is man-made. Give them the opportunity to get educated and not have school debt. We need universal child care if they have families … and a strong education system. Then we also need things for them to see and do.

Part of that is the executive branch. If you look at (social media in) our neighboring state of Colorado … and follow our social media, it’s like night and day. How you promote the state through social media is really important to the 18- to- 34-year-old demographic. … Our social media … has nothing to do with why Nebraska is awesome. In Colorado, they’re like we’re at this brewery and this pumpkin brew is amazing, or you know, we’re skiing down this mountain, visit your state parks.

Also, it just bugs the hell out of me when you see candidates purposefully insult a percentage of our population because they don’t agree with how they identify. We are all Nebraskans. … You can believe what you want to believe … but that also means that you don’t get to shove your opinion down the throats of others.

On DACA kids:

I think they’re Nebraskans. That’s a really good example of how we let things fester. We’ve made things political. They’ve been here. They’ve been paying taxes. They’ve been active in our communities. They’ve been employed in our communities. It’s really time for the executive branch to work with the federal branch. … Legally, how do we help them?

Pillen: The answer is that we as business people need to team up with the K-12 educators, and we need to join together with kids when they are in ninth and 10th grade, maybe even fifth and sixth grade for the engineers and the actuaries. We can tag up with those kids and let them know … you’re great at math, I’m going to hang with you, and your education will be paid for and then you’re going to work for my insurance company for X years. (It’s) like a service academy. That’s what we have to do to be able to get veterinarians in food production.

We may have to have the state step up and be a part of making sure we have plenty of teachers. Where the market doesn’t make it happen, that’s where I believe the state’s responsibility is, to make those investments.

There are some really cool programs going on, where there’s Friday senior day and seniors in high school are spending Fridays out in the workforce. There are schools that are having academies and kids are getting exposed to this at a young age. We’ve got great kids. We’ve just got to get all these mandates, and all these lawyers, and all these crazy ideas out of the way, so kids can do stuff at a young age. You know, kids don’t need to be 21 years of age to change a tire for crying out loud.

On DACA kids:

I’m not a guy that believes you load them on a bus. We have to have immigration reform. We can’t have amnesty. We can’t have a pathway to citizenship. You can’t use state funds. (For those who) came here illegally, (they) lose their voting privileges. Kids that come here that are a victim, we need to get them incorporated, but business has to solve that. We can’t use state funds to do that.

This story was originally published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. It is part of the national nonprofit States Newsroom. Find more at nebraskaexaminer.com.