Labor quality surpassed inflation as the top concern in the most recent Small Business Optimism Survey. NFIB State Director Dawn McVea said 24% of ‘Mom and Pops’ said filling job openings with qualified workers is their top concern followed by inflation at 23%.
“So, a bright spot I think was a decrease of owners having to raise the average selling price of goods and services so that’s down,” said McVea.
Since the pandemic, McVea said finding qualified applicants to fill job openings has been an ongoing issue and a good number of small businesses have or plan to increase wages to rectify the problem.
“Forty percent of our owners reported that they are raising compensation and then 21% say they plan to in the next few months,” said McVea.
Overall optimism decreased one point in April to 89, the 16th month in a row below the survey’s history of 98.
“We’ve been running this survey for over 48 years and it’s just really a good indicator of what’s going on, on Main Street,” said McVea.
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