Dan Murray Kansas State Director NFIB | Official Website
Dan Murray Kansas State Director NFIB | Official Website
NFIB’s August jobs report indicates that 32% of small business owners had job openings they could not fill, a decrease from July. This marks the first time since July 2020 that unfilled job openings have dropped below this level. The report shows that 28% of owners had openings for skilled workers, while 13% sought unskilled labor.
“While the economy appears to be doing well, small businesses are scaling back on job openings,” said Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg. “Small business owners with job openings are still looking for qualified applicants, many citing labor quality as their single most important problem.”
Dan Murray, NFIB State Director, commented on the ongoing hiring challenges: “For some of our members, they’re paring down open positions and focusing on retaining their current workforce. But for many others, they want to get their open positions filled. It’s just a challenge finding the right applicants.”
Labor quality remained a key concern in August, with 21% of owners identifying it as their main issue—unchanged from July. Reports of labor costs as the primary problem fell slightly to 8%.
The proportion of small business owners hiring or attempting to hire declined by four points in August to 53%. Of those seeking new employees, 43% reported few or no qualified applicants—a drop from July. Specifically, 26% found few qualified candidates and 17% found none.
Job vacancies were most common in construction, manufacturing, and transportation sectors and least common in wholesale and finance.
Looking ahead, a seasonally adjusted net 15% of owners plan to create new jobs over the next three months—a slight increase from July and part of a three-month upward trend.
Compensation also saw changes: a net 29% raised pay in August (up two points), while a net 20% plan further increases in the coming months (up three points). Labor costs cited as the top issue continued to decline slightly.
The full NFIB Jobs Report is available online at https://www.nfib.com/surveys/small-business-economic-trends/.
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