Small-business owners report fourth consecutive month of record high unfilled job openings.
From Anthony Smith, Oregon state director for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation’s largest small-business association, on today’s release of the monthly Jobs Report from NFIB showing a fourth consecutive month of record highs in unfilled job openings:
“We’ve never seen anything like this in nearly 50 years of data. A record 48 percent of NFIB members are reporting open positions they are unable to fill — the fourth consecutive month of record-shattering numbers.
“This is a major problem for Oregon small businesses across the state in nearly every industry sector. If we want to see our state recover swiftly from the negative economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to show out-of-work Oregonians the financial advantages of returning to work — sooner rather than later.
“As the Oregon Employment Department is currently working to reinstate work search requirements that were suspended due to the pandemic, now is the time for lawmakers to use one-time federal funds to create a Return-to-Work incentive program designed to get Oregonians back to work and off unemployment insurance before enhanced federal benefits expire in September.”
Click here to read NFIB’s national news release, which contains a link to the full report.
From NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg:
“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.”
NFIB’s Jobs Report is a national snapshot not broken down by state. Today’s results are based on 659 respondents to the May survey of a random sample of NFIB’s member firms, surveyed through May 28, 2021. The NFIB Research Foundation has collected Small Business Economic Trends data with quarterly surveys since 1974 and monthly surveys since 1986.
