Beehive State News

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) has released its latest monthly Jobs Report, highlighting ongoing challenges for small business owners in finding employees. The report provides a national overview of NFIB-member small businesses, which typically employ around 10 people and generate gross sales of approximately $500,000 annually.

Bill Dunkelberg, NFIB Chief Economist, commented on the findings: “Finding qualified workers remained a major headwind for stronger job growth on Main Street in December. In the meantime, compensation increases have softened among small businesses but remained solid as the year came to an end.”

Key points from the report include that 35% of small business owners reported unfilled job openings in December, a slight decrease from November. Additionally, a net 29% reported raising compensation during the same period, marking the lowest level since March 2021. Looking ahead, 19% of owners plan to create new jobs within three months.

The report also noted that job openings were most prevalent in transportation, construction, and manufacturing sectors while being least common in agriculture and finance. Specifically, construction saw a notable decline with open positions down by 13 points from last month and 17 points from the previous year.

For further updates on Utah's small-business news, visit www.nfib.com/utah or follow @nfib_ut on Twitter.

NFIB continues its mission to advocate for America's small and independent business owners across all states and Washington D.C., maintaining its nonpartisan stance since its founding in 1943.