SACRAMENTO, Calif., Feb. 6, 2025—More than a third of the nation’s small business owners are still struggling to fill job openings, according to NFIB’s latest monthly Jobs Report released today. This finding follows a much-improved Small Business Optimism Index released January 14.

NFIB’s January jobs report found that 35% (seasonally adjusted) of small business owners reported job openings they could not fill in January, unchanged from December. The problem is more pronounced in the transportation, construction, and manufacturing sectors and less so in the agriculture and finance fields.

“What the latest report tells me is that more work needs to be done if we are to build on the improved findings in small business optimism, and that goes doubly so in California, where that must begin by rebuilding our fire-ravaged communities,” said John Kabateck, state director for NFIB in California. “On few other issues is policy more important than to national, state, and local economies. With Congress and the California State Legislature in full swing, we will be lobbying for passage of as many elements of our state and federal agendas as we can hope to pass. And that begins by reminding policymakers that small business in not just another constituency but the central thread holding together every economy.”

The Jobs Report is a national snapshot of NFIB-member, small-business owners not broken down by state. The typical NFIB member employs 10 people and reports gross sales of about $500,000 a year. On Tuesday, February 11, NFIB will release its latest Small Business Optimism Index.

From NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg

“Small business owners are certainly feeling hopeful about the direction of the economy. However, employment remains a top concern as Main Street owners continue to face challenges in finding qualified employees to fill their open positions.”

Highlights from the Latest NFIB Jobs Report

• Overall, 52% of small business owners reported hiring or trying to hire in January, down three points from December.
• Forty-seven percent (90% of those hiring or trying to hire) of owners reported few or no qualified applicants for the positions they were trying to fill.
• Twenty-nine percent have openings for skilled workers (unchanged) and 10% have openings for unskilled labor (down three points).
• A seasonally adjusted net 18% of owners plan to create new jobs in the next three months, down one point from December.
• The percent of small business owners reporting labor quality as their top operating problem fell one point from December to 18%. Labor costs reported as the single most important problem for business owners fell two points from December to 9%, only four points below the highest reading of 13% reached in December 2021.
• Seasonally adjusted, a net 33% of small business owners reported raising compensation in January, up four points from December’s lowest reading since March 2021. A net 20% (seasonally adjusted) plan to raise compensation in the next three months, down four points December.

Click here to view the entire NFIB Jobs Report.

Keep up with the latest California small-business news at www.nfib.com. Follow us on X @NFIB_CA and on Facebook @NFIB.CA.

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For more than 80 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 our 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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