FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Anthony Smith, NFIB Oregon State Director, anthony.smith@nfib.org
or Tony Malandra, Senior Media Manager, anthony.malandra@nfib.org

SALEM, Ore., Jan. 8, 2026—From NFIB Oregon State Director Anthony Smith on today’s release of the monthly Jobs Report from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), which found that 33% (seasonally adjusted) of small business owners reported job openings they could not fill in December, unchanged from November. Unfilled job openings remain above the historical average of 24%.

“Small business owners are still struggling to fill their open positions, even more so than what’s historically normal. At the same time, 117,019 Oregonians are currently unemployed – a rate of 5.2%, which is worse than 47 other states, and much higher than the national average. This is incredibly frustrating data to make sense of.”

NFIB’s Jobs Report is a national survey of NFIB-member small-business owners, not broken down by state. The December survey, through 12/31/2025, is based on a random sample of 429 respondents of NFIB’s member firms.

From NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg

“The economic climate continues to support the small business labor market. Although employment conditions vary, fewer owners report labor as their biggest challenge while compensation pressures are escalating.”

Highlights from the Latest NFIB Jobs Report

• Overall, 53% of owners reported hiring or trying to hire in December, down 3 points from November.
• In December, 19% of small business owners cited labor quality as their single most important problem, down 2 points from November.
• Seasonally adjusted, a net 31% of small business owners reported raising compensation in December, up 5 points from November. A net 24% (seasonally adjusted) plan to raise compensation in the next three months, unchanged from November.

Keep up with the latest Oregon small business news at www.nfib.com or on X at @NFIB_OR

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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 its founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.

National Federation of Independent Business
1149 Court Street NE
Salem, OR 97301
503-364-4450
NFIB.com
X: NFIB_OR