The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB)’s September jobs report shows a decrease in hiring activity among small businesses as the labor market continues to soften. A seasonally adjusted 32 percent of owners reported job openings they could not fill, down three points from August but remaining eight points above the historical average.
“Overall employment conditions are softening, though the small business labor market is still tighter than normal,” said NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg. ”Between the ongoing difficulty of finding qualified workers and elevated operation costs, employers are proceeding more cautiously as they look to make hiring decisions.”
Added Anthony Smith, state director for NFIB in Oregon, “There are still a lot of small businesses looking to hire right now, but the percentage of small business owners telling us ‘labor quality or availability’ is their top problem is more than double the historical average. This is especially frustrating for small businesses in Oregon where we still have the highest unemployment rate out of all 50 states.”
The Small Business Employment Index, which measures the current state of the small business labor market, declined 1.2 points in September to 100.6, falling below the 2025 average of 101.2, but remaining above the historical average of 100.0.
Overall, 51 percent of small business owners reported hiring or trying to hire in September, down 5 points from August. Forty-five percent (87 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-five percent of owners reported few qualified applicants for their open positions and 20 percent reported none.
Twenty-seven percent have openings for skilled workers (down four points) and 16 percent have openings for unskilled labor (up three points).
A seasonally adjusted net 17 percent of owners plan to create new jobs in the next three months, unchanged from August.
The percent of small business owners reporting “labor quality or availability” as their top operating problem increased three points from August to 26 percent, 14 points above the historical average of 12 percent. Labor costs reported as the single most important problem for business owners fell one point from August to six percent, the lowest level since December 2020.
Seasonally adjusted, a net 28 percent of small business owners reported raising compensation in September, down three points from August. A net 20 percent (seasonally adjusted) plan to raise compensation in the next three months, up two points from August.
https://www.nfib.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/NFIB-September-2026-Jobs-Report.pdf
