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

HELENA, Mont., Nov. 6, 2025—From NFIB Montana State Director Ronda Wiggers on today’s release of the monthly Jobs Report from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), showing that 32% (seasonally adjusted) of small business owners reported job openings they could not fill in October, unchanged for the second month in a row.

“As the nation’s leading economist on the small business issues points out, this consistent monthly finding of available-jobs-to-qualified-applicants ratio seems to have settled into the new normal. [see quote below]

“What I think additionally noteworthy is Montana’s excellent rank in the Tax Foundation’s recently released 2026 State Tax Competitive Index. Although changes to our property tax structure dropped us from our four-year standing at 5^th, positive changes to our income tax structure kept Montana ranked in the top 10 nationwide, coming in as the 6^th best state for business taxes.

“The study also looked at our Unemployment Insurance Tax structure.  Although we have made cost saving changes the last two legislative sessions, Montana still ranks 25^th in that category.  Our legislators may want to consider more improvements to this program when they return in 2027.”

NFIB’s Jobs Report is a national survey of NFIB-member small-business owners, not broken down by state. The typical NFIB member employs between one and nine people and reports gross sales of about $500,000 a year. This report is based on 984 respondents to the October survey of a random sample of NFIB’s member firms, surveyed through 10/31/2025.

From NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg

“The post-Covid labor market appears to have mostly normalized on Main Street. Jobs are plentiful albeit declining, while qualified applicants are scarce but increasing for some industries.”

Highlights from the Latest NFIB Jobs Report

• A seasonally adjusted net 15% of owners plan to create new jobs in the next three months, down 1 point from September. This marks the first decline since hiring plans started to increase in May 2025.
• In October, 27% of small business owners cited labor quality as their single most important problem, up 9 points from September and the highest level since the record high of 29% in November 2021.
• Labor quality reported as the single most important problem was the highest in the construction, transportation, and professional services industries, and lowest in finance and agriculture.
• Seasonally adjusted, a net 26% of small business owners reported raising compensation in October, down 5 points from September. A net 19% (seasonally adjusted) plan to raise compensation in the next three months, unchanged from September.

Keep up with the latest Montana small business news at www.nfib.com or by following us on X at @NFIB_MT.

###

For over 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
NFIB.com
X: @NFIB_MT