Small-business owners report fourth consecutive month of a record high unfilled job openings
SACRAMENTO, Calif., June 3, 2021—From John Kabateck, California state director for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation’s largest small-business association, on today’s release of the monthly Jobs Report from NFIB showing a fourth consecutive month of record highs in unfilled job openings.
“The search for qualified employees is a constant for small-business owners in good times and in bad patches, but the pandemic has made finding any employees an even bigger problem. One step California could take, but the political maneuverability to do so is impossibly narrow, would be to join with 25 other states that are ending the extra $300 a week the feds have added on top of state unemployment benefits that for too many people, has created an incentive not to get back on the job, and we’re not the only association to find this. Alignable took a poll that found 30% of small-business owners citing the extra $300 as the reason for the hiring shortage. The federal $300 ends in September, California would help itself by ending it sooner.”
Click here to read NFIB’s national news release, which contains a link to the full report.
From NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg
“Small business owners are struggling at record levels trying to get workers back in open positions. Owners are offering higher wages to try to remedy the labor shortage problem. Ultimately, higher labor costs are being passed on to customers in higher selling prices.”
NFIB’s Jobs Report is a national snapshot not broken down by state. Today’s results are based on 659 respondents to the May survey of a random sample of NFIB’s member firms, surveyed through 5/28/2021. The NFIB Research Foundation has collected Small Business Economic Trends data with quarterly surveys since 1974 and monthly surveys since 1986.
Contact: John Kabateck, California State Director, [email protected]
or Tony Malandra, Senior Media Manager, [email protected]
Keep up with the latest on California small-business news at www.nfib.com/california, where this release can also be read, or by following NFIB on Twitter @NFIB_CA or on Facebook @NFIB.CA.
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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.
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