Small businesses still struggle to find enough workers
ABC News
Some small businesses are still struggling to hire qualified workers, even as the broader picture in the U.S. job market looks much brighter
NEW YORK -- Some small businesses are still struggling to hire qualified workers, even as Americans return to the U.S. job market in droves.
Hiring and retaining employees remains the top challenge for small businesses, according to a survey of 1,100 businesses by Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Voices out last week. Ninety percent of businesses that are hiring are finding it difficult to recruit qualified candidates for open positions.
In general, the U.S. job market is sizzling. An unexpectedly strong recovery from the brief but devastating coronavirus recession left companies scrambling to recall workers they had laid off in the spring of 2020 and to find new ones. Over the past year, U.S. employers have added an average of more than 540,000 jobs a month. The Labor Department is expected to report Friday that employers hired another 396,000 last month, according to FactSet.
But small business owners believe the job market is a tale of two recoveries. Eighty-eight percent of respondents in the Goldman Sachs survey say small businesses are struggling relative to larger companies in their local communities. Forty-two percent say they have lost employees to larger businesses that are paying more.