Help Wanted: SMBs Post Record Number Of Unfilled Jobs

Job openings at U.S. small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) hit a new high in March, according to a press release from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).

Forty-two percent of firms had openings last month, and 56 percent of owners said they had added workers or had tried to hire people in March, the release stated. Almost a quarter of those surveyed plan to create jobs in the next three months.

The data shows how the loosening of business restrictions from the pandemic, along with the boost in economic activity, have given businesses more incentive to hire people, according to the release. However, an overwhelming amount of businesses have had some trouble finding qualified applicants, with over 90 percent of respondents saying there were either few or none they felt were qualified.

“Where small businesses do have open positions, labor quality remains a significant problem for owners nationwide,” said NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg in the release. “Small-business owners are raising compensation to attract the right employees.”

Many SMBs opened during the pandemic, with Americans starting them at the fastest rate in almost a decade. Applications for the employee identification numbers were above 3.2 million in 2020, compared with 2.7 million at the same time the previous year, according to numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau. The group included gig workers and other independent contractors who may have started their own businesses after being laid off.

There were slightly more unemployment claims filed in the week ending March 27, with 719,000 filed. That’s an increase from the 658,000 from the previous week, although that number was downwardly revised from 684,000. Both numbers are still low compared to the worst numbers from the pandemic.

The four-week moving average for claims was 719,000, a decrease of 10,500 from the last week. It was also the lowest level for this average since last year around the same time.