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Worker shortages continue to limit employment gains, and the shortages may be getting worse. But U.S. owners of small firms are still planning for growth in a resilient economy. That’s according to the latest monthly employer survey from the National Federation of Independent Business, due out later today. NFIB Chief Economist William Dunkelberg reports: NFIB’s September Small Business Economic Trends survey found that 32%
(seasonally adjusted) of all owners reported job openings they could not fill in the current period, unchanged from August. The last time unfilled job openings fell below 32% was in July 2020. Twenty-eight percent have openings for skilled workers (unchanged), and 13% have openings for unskilled labor (unchanged). This looks like steady-as-she-goes in a solid if not spectacular job market as the number of companies with unfilled positions ended up the same as the previous month. But on the way to this status quo result it seems that more firms went into hiring mode last month. NFIB reports the results of a separate question: Overall, 58% of owners reported
hiring or trying to hire in September, up 5 points from August. Fifty percent (88% of those hiring or trying to hire) of owners reported few or no qualified applicants for the positions they were trying to fill (up 7 points). Twenty-nine percent reported few qualified applicants (up 3 points), and 21% reported none (up 4 points). Workers are still hard to find and owners may be getting more eager to find them, reports NFIB:
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