The National Federation of Independent Business’ (NFIB) December jobs report found that 35 percent (seasonally adjusted) of small-business owners reported job openings they could not fill in December, down one point from November.
Seasonally adjusted, a net 29 percent of small-business owners reported raising compensation in December, down three points from November and the lowest reading since March 2021.
“Finding qualified workers remained a major headwind for stronger job growth on Main Street in December,” NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg said in a release. “In the meantime, compensation increases have softened among small businesses, but remained solid as the year came to an end.”
A net 24 percent (seasonally adjusted) plan to raise compensation in the next three months, down four points from November’s highest reading of this year. Labor costs reported as the single most important problem for business owners was unchanged from November at 11 percent, only two points below the highest reading of 13 percent reached in December 2021.
The share of small business owners reporting labor quality as their top operating problem was unchanged from November at 19 percent.
A seasonally adjusted net 19 percent of owners plan to create new jobs in the next three months, up one point from November.
Overall, 55 percent of small-business owners reported hiring or trying to hire in December, unchanged from November. Forty-nine percent (89 percent of those hiring or trying to hire) of owners reported few or no qualified applicants for the positions they were trying to fill. Twenty-eight percent of owners reported few qualified applicants for their open positions and 21 percent reported none.
Twenty-nine percent have openings for skilled workers (down one point) and 13 percent have openings for unskilled labor (unchanged).
Job openings were the highest in the transportation, construction, and manufacturing sectors, and the lowest in the agriculture and finance sectors. Job openings in construction were down 13 points from last month and down 17 points from the prior year, with 41 percent reporting an open position they can’t fill.