The National Federation of Independent Business’s September jobs report found that 34% (seasonally adjusted) of small business owners reported job openings they could not fill in September, down 6 points from August and the lowest reading since January 2021.
Overall, 59% of small business owners nationwide reported hiring or trying to hire in September, down three points from August. Fifty-two percent (90% of those hiring or trying to hire) of owners reported few or no qualified applicants for the positions they were trying to fill. Thirty percent of owners reported few qualified applicants for their open positions and 22% reported none.
Thirty percent have openings for skilled workers (down six points) and 14% have openings for unskilled labor (down one point).
Job openings in construction were down seven points from August and about half of them (53%) have a job opening they can’t fill. Job openings were the highest in the construction, transportation, and manufacturing sectors, and the lowest in the agriculture and finance sectors.
Jobs Report eyes Election Day
The New York Times reports that with just over a month to go until Election Day, Friday’s jobs report, set to be published at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, has outsize importance.
“Investors will look for clues to what the Fed might do next with interest rates, as well as how the economy is doing,” NYT reported. “But that isn’t the only number on investors’ minds. Further rises in oil prices, especially given an ambiguous statement by President Biden on whether Israel would attack Iran’s oil fields, could have just as huge economic consequences.”
As NYT notes, economists expect that “companies probably added 150,000 jobs in September, up from 142,000 in August, and the jobless rate stayed at 4.2 percent, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists.”
