According to Nebraska Department of Labor’s Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages Program, over the last decade, Nebraska’s ethanol production sector outpaced all other manufacturing groups in the state in terms of wages earned. For example, in 2013 the average annual wage in the ethanol sector was $59,541 while the average for all other manufacturing sectors was $39,966.

“Nebraska’s ethanol industry now has twenty-four operating plants located across the state with the capacity to produce more than two billion gallons annually,” said to Todd Sneller, administrator of the Nebraska Ethanol Board. “The impact of ethanol production goes far beyond rural Nebraska. Virtually every sector of the state’s economy benefits from ethanol’s growth. Economic benefits accrue to technology and manufacturing sectors that provide software and sophisticated equipment to the agricultural sector that provides the raw materials processed in the plants.

Sneller added, “A vibrant agricultural economy is a major component of Nebraska’s economic success and the growing importance of ethanol is particularly notable. The ethanol industry generates 7,700 jobs, increases Nebraska’s annual economic base by $5.8 billion, and pays more than $38 million in local and state tax revenues each year.”