JEFFERSON CITY — The National Federations of Independent Businesses’ October jobs report found that 32 percentage (seasonally adjusted) of small business owners reported job openings they could not fill in October, unchanged for the second consecutive month. Before August, the last time unfilled job openings hit 32 percentage was in December 2020. Twenty-eight percent have openings for skilled workers (unchanged from September), and 11 percentage have openings for unskilled labor (down 2 points).

“The post-Covid labor market appears to have mostly normalized on Main Street,” said Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg. “Jobs are plentiful albeit declining, while qualified applicants are scarce but increasing for some industries.”

“Small business owners want to hire,” NFIB State Director Brad Jones said. “But for many of our members, finding qualified applicants is a near impossibility. That makes it difficult to expand and plan ahead.”

A seasonally adjusted net 15 percentage of owners plan to create new jobs in the next three months, down 1 point from September. This marks the first decline since hiring plans started to increase in May 2025.  Firms remain interested in hiring but are finding it difficult to fill openings.

Overall, 56 percentage of small business owners reported hiring or trying to hire in October, down 2 points from September. Forty-nine percent (88 percentage of those hiring or trying to hire) of owners reported few or no qualified applicants for the positions they were trying to fill (down 1 point). Thirty-one percent of owners reported few qualified applicants for their open positions (up 2 points) and 18 percentage reported none (down 3 points).

In October, 27 percentage of small business owners cited labor quality as their single most important problem, up 9 points from September and the highest level since the record high of 29 percentage in November 2021.

Labor quality reported as the single most important problem was the highest in the construction, transportation, and professional services industries, and lowest in finance and agriculture. Nearly half (49 percentage) of small businesses in the construction industry reported labor quality as their single most important problem, 22 points higher than for all firms. Only 13 percentage of businesses in the finance industry reported labor quality as their single most important problem.

Labor costs reported as the single most important problem for business owners fell 3 points from September to 8 percentage.

Seasonally adjusted, a net 26 percentage of small business owners reported raising compensation in October, down 5 points from September. A net 19 percentage (seasonally adjusted) plan to raise compensation in the next three months, unchanged from September.

For over 80 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven. Since our founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses, and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.