Small Business Owners Report Major Difficulties in Finding Qualified Employees

December 1, 2022 Last Edit: March 19, 2026

Labor quality remains a major issue for small business

Small Business Owners Report Major Difficulties in Finding Qualified Employees

NFIB’s monthly jobs report released today shows that labor quality continues to be a challenge for small businesses with 21% of owners reporting the difficulty of finding qualified employees as the biggest challenge facing their business, a 2-point decrease from October. In addition, while the figure remains significantly above the historical average, November saw the lowest percentage of owners reporting positions they could not fill since April 2021. “The small business economy is recovering, but owners continue to face ongoing labor troubles throughout the country,” said NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg. “Employment plans remain historically strong with 18% of owners planning to hire and create new jobs in the coming months, historically high but the lowest reading since February 2021.” Forty-four percent of all owners reported job openings they could not fill in the current period, down two points from October and the lowest reading in over 18 months. It is still nearly double the 49-year historical average of 23%. Other key findings include:??

In addition to the elevated number of owners reporting labor quality as their top business problem, 9% of owners reported labor cost as their single most important problem. This is a one-point decrease from October.
A net 18% of small business owners plan to create new jobs in the next three months. While elevated compared to the historical average, this is the lowest level NFIB has recorded since February 2021.
A total of 59% of owners reported hiring or trying to hire in November, down two points from October. The vast majority (92%) of those trying to hire reported few or no qualified applicants.?
A net 40% of owners reported raising compensation, down four points from October. In addition, a net 28% of owners plan to raise compensation soon.?
Thirty-seven percent of owners have openings for skilled workers and 16% have openings for unskilled labor.

You can read the full Jobs Report here. Take Action: The Employment Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) helped to stabilize businesses throughout the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Congress has curtailed the ERTC to end after Q3 of 2021, instead of Q4 2021 as originally planned. Contact your Members of Congress here and tell them that this crucial credit should be available to qualifying businesses through all of 2021 as was originally planned.

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