× Thanks for reading! Log in to continue. Enjoy more articles by logging in or creating a free account. No credit card required. Log in Sign up {{featured_button_text}}

SCOTTSBLUFF — The nation’s unemployment rate has settled below 4% since January, creating a lack of qualified candidates looking for jobs.

“The primary workforce issue that I hear from employers in Nebraska and beyond, even more than the health care mess, is just a lack of available workforce,” Congressman Adrian Smith told the Star-Herald Monday.

With current upward pressure to raise the minimum wage to $15, Smith said it’s not just minimum wage or entry level positions where workers are in short supply, it’s management positions as well. Smith relayed how former Speaker of the House John Boehner likened it to a ladder where minimum wage positions are the lower rungs. Boehner said that by removing those lower rungs, it makes it harder for people on the ladder. In addition, Smith said, raising the minimum wage would likely eliminate some of those minimum wage jobs as employers struggle to pay the increased wages.

“There is more to consider when it comes to employment than just wages,” Smith said. “Wages always seem to be this political football that each side fights over. ... When we have enough jobs available that every applicant has choices of what they want to do, that will do more for wages than anything else that we can do.”