August 16, 2023
Small business owners are still reporting few or no qualified applicants for open positions
July Report Shows Labor Quality is the Top Small Business Concern
- Owners expecting better business conditions over the next six months improved 10 points from June to a net negative 30%, 31 percentage points better than last June’s reading of a net negative 61%. This is the highest reading since August 2021 but historically very negative.
- Forty-two percent of owners reported job openings that were hard to fill, unchanged from June but remaining historically very high.
- The net percent of owners raising average selling prices decreased four points to a net 25% seasonally adjusted, still a very inflationary level but trending down. This is the lowest reading since January 2021.
- The net percent of owners who expect real sales to be higher improved two points from June to a net negative 12%, a very pessimistic perspective.
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