WASHINGTON — A jobs report recently released by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) found that 34% (seasonally adjusted) of small-business owners reported job openings they could not fill in April, down six points from March, the lowest since January 2021.
“Small-business owners remained open to hiring and growing their workforce in April,” says NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg. “While the percentage of open positions decreased a bit, Main Street firms are still struggling to find qualified applicants for their plentiful open positions.”
Overall, 56% of small-business owners reported hiring or trying to hire in April, up three points from March. Forty-seven percent (85% of those hiring or trying to hire) of owners reported “few” or “no” qualified applicants for the positions they were trying to fill. Twenty-eight percent of owners reported “few” qualified applicants for their open positions and 19% reported “none.”
Twenty-nine percent have openings for skilled workers (down four points) and 13% have openings for unskilled labor (unchanged for the third consecutive month).
A seasonally adjusted net 13% of owners plan to create new jobs in the next three months, up one point from March.
The percentage of small-business owners reporting labor quality as their top operating problem was unchanged from March at 19%. Labor costs reported as the single most important problem fell three points from March to 8%.
Seasonally adjusted, a net 33% of small-business owners reported raising compensation in April, down five points from March. A net 17% (seasonally adjusted) plan to raise compensation in the next three months, down two points from March and the lowest since March 2021.
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