Small business owners continue to face hiring challenges as May 2021 marked the fourth month in a row of almost half of owners reporting unfilled job openings. The record-high number of businesses reporting unfilled job openings is 26 points higher that the 48-year average of 22% according to the National Federation of Independent Business.
The trade group’s monthly jobs report indicated that 48% of small business owners were experiencing the same problem. That number represents a small, seasonally adjusted increase from last month.
A closer look at the data showed that 93% of small business owners indicated that they’d received either no applications from “qualified” candidates, or very few. This is a significant problem in light of the fact that forty percent report having current openings for skilled workers, up 3 points, while 27 percent have openings for unskilled labor, up seven points.
At the same time, new claims for unemployment in the United States fell below 400,000, its lowest point since before the global pandemic struck America, shutting down businesses and roiling the economy.
NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg issued a statement on the latest numbers, warning that as businesses try to compensate for the lack of staff, it will ultimately be the consumers who feel the pain. “Small business owners are struggling at record levels trying to get workers back in open positions. Owners are offering higher wages to try to remedy the labor shortage problem. Ultimately, higher labor costs are being passed on to customers in higher selling prices.”
Still, according to the ADP National Employment Report, hiring strengthened in May, with private companies boosting their payrolls by almost a million jobs. The 978,000 new jobs followed an increase of 654,000 in April and was the biggest since last June.
U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased by 559,000 last month. This fell short of the 650,000 forecast in a Reuters poll, but far outpaced April’s surprisingly low 266,000 number.
About Martinez & Shanken, PLLC
Martinez & Shanken, PLLC is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) firm based in Gilbert, Arizona. We provide a full range of accounting, bookkeeping, consulting, outsourcing and business services. Partners Deborah Martinez and Earl Shanken work to ensure your business accounting is done with integrity and to your satisfaction.
