FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ronda Wiggers, State Director, rondakwiggers@gmail.com
or Tony Malandra, Senior Media Manager, anthony.malandra@nfib.org

HELENA, Mont., Feb. 6, 2025—NFIB’s latest monthly Jobs Report released today shows more than a third of small business owners still struggling to fill open positions, with the problem a bit more severe in the transportation, construction, and manufacturing sectors and less so in the agriculture and finance fields.

The report found that 35% (seasonally adjusted) of small business owners reported job openings they could not fill in January, unchanged from December. “Here in Montana, we’re pushing for passage of a couple of measures that will alleviate some of the problems small businesses are having with finding help,” said Ronda Wiggers, state director for NFIB in Montana. “One is House Bill 131, which lowers the number of weeks a person can stay on unemployment, and the other is House Bill 197 that would speed up the time between when an injured worker is released to go back to work and when they can actually go back to work. Should both bills pass, together they can provide more than a little help in filling job openings.”

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 Montana small business news at www.nfib.com or by following us on X at @NFIB_MT.

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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.

NFIB Montana
406-899-9659
rondakwiggers@gmail.com
www.nfib.com/montana
X: @NFIB_MT