Small businesses continue to struggle to find qualified workers
WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 4, 2024) – NFIB’s June jobs report found solid employment hiring plans among small business owners, but overall unsuccessful attempts to hire additional workers. A seasonally adjusted 37% of all small business owners reported job openings they could not fill in their current period, down five points from May.
“This summer, small business owners continue to try to hire and find qualified employees for their open positions,” said NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg. “The number of small businesses with one or more job openings they can’t fill remains at exceptionally high levels. However, owners are raising compensation at historically high levels to attract and retain employees.”
A seasonally adjusted net 15% of owners plan to create new jobs in the next three months, unchanged from May. Overall, 60% of owners reported hiring or trying to hire in June. Of those hiring or trying to hire, 85% reported few or no qualified applicants for the positions they were trying to fill. Thirty-one percent of owners reported few qualified applicants for their open positions and 20% reported none.
The percent of small business owners reporting labor quality as their top small business operating problem fell one point to 19%. Labor cost reported as the single most important problem for business owners rose one point to 11%, two points below the highest reading of 13% reached in December 2021.
Seasonally adjusted, a net 38% reported raising compensation, up one point from May and historically very high. A net 22% (seasonally adjusted) plan to raise compensation in the next three months, up four points from May.
Thirty-one percent have openings for skilled workers (down six points) and 16% have openings for unskilled labor (up two points). Job openings in construction were down three points from last month and over half of the firms (51%) have a job opening they can’t fill. Job openings were the highest in the construction, transportation, and retail sectors, and the lowest in the agriculture and finance sectors.
Click here to view the entire NFIB Jobs Report.
