FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Contact: John Kabateck, California State Director, john@kabstrat.com  
or Tony Malandra, Senior Media Manager, anthony.malandra@nfib.org 

SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 2, 2025—Another Jobs Report from NFIB, another month of unfilled job openings plaguing Main Street, as 34% (seasonally adjusted) of small business owners reported job openings they could not fill in April. 

“Small business owners have been hit by some strong national headwinds going back to the pandemic, and those winds continue to this day, which can be found in such statistics as small businesses’ month-after-month struggle to fill open job positions,” said John Kabateck, state director for NFIB in California. “I believe the key to changing this begins by stabilizing the business, first and foremost, and that means having state and federal policies that aid small business solvency. It is paramount Congress prevents the 20% Small Business Deduction from expiring at the end of the year, and in Sacramento, legislators could stop cranking out proposals painting targets for lawyers on the backs of small business owners. No sense in boasting about being the fourth largest economy in the world when there are a lot of rotting pillars holding that ephemeral claim up.” 

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.   

From NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg 

“Small business owners remained open to hire and grow their workforce in April. While the percent of open positions decreased a bit, Main Street firms are still struggling to find qualified applicants for their plentiful open positions.” 

Highlights from the Latest Jobs Report

• Job openings were the highest in the construction, transportation, and manufacturing sectors. Job openings in the wholesale industry rose 16 points from the prior month to 36%.
   

• A seasonally adjusted net 13% of owners plan to create new jobs in the next three months, up one point from March.
   

• Seasonally adjusted, a net 33% of small business owners reported raising compensation in April, down five points from March.
   

• A net 17% (seasonally adjusted) plan to raise compensation in the next three months, down two points from March and the lowest since March 2021. 

Keep up with the latest California small-business news at www.nfib.com. Follow us on X @NFIB_CA and on Facebook @NFIB.CA.

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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. 

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