Historic highs in compensation have not countered historic highs in job openings
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Chad Heinrich, Arizona State Director, [email protected]
or Tony Malandra, Senior Media Manager, [email protected]
PHOENIX, Aug. 5, 2021—From Chad Heinrich, Arizona state director for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), on today’s release of the monthly Jobs Report from NFIB.
“Arizonans need to get back to work and normalcy. Our state leaders have been making the right moves lately to keep the Arizona small business economy moving forward. Hopefully, the power brokers in Washington DC can take a hint from Arizona before they again look to shutter businesses with untenable mandates and unproven mitigation strategies. Further dictates from the federal government will do nothing but harm Arizona small businesses and the one million people they employ.”
Highlights from the Jobs Report
- July’s reading of unfilled job openings was 49% a record high and far above the 48-year historical average of 22%
- Forty-three percent of owners have job openings for skilled workers (up three points) and 25% have openings for unskilled workers (up three points). In the construction industry, 59% of the job openings are for skilled workers. Sixty-six percent of construction firms reported few or no qualified applicants for their open positions.
- Seasonally adjusted, a net 38% reported raising compensation, down one point from June’s record high of 39%. A net 27% of owners plan to raise compensation in the next three months, up one point from June and a 48-year record high reading.
From NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg
“Small business owners struggled to find qualified workers for their open positions, which has impaired business activity in the busy summer months. Owners are raising compensation to the highest levels in 48 years to attract needed employees.”
NFIB’s Jobs Report is a national snapshot not broken down by state. Today’s results were based on 1,440 respondents to the July survey of a random sample of NFIB’s member firms, surveyed through 7/30/2021. The NFIB Research Foundation has collected Small Business Economic Trends data with quarterly surveys since 1974 and monthly surveys since 1986.
Keep up with the latest on Arizona small business news at www.nfib.com/arizona or by following NFIB on Twitter @NFIB_AZ
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For 78 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven association. Since its founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.
NFIB Arizona
602-263-7690
NFIB.com/AZ
Twitter: @NFIB_AZ
