(Bloomberg) -- Half of US small-business owners said they had open positions they could not fill in June, down slightly from a record-high, and nearly as many reported raising compensation, indicating persistent hiring challenges and a still-tight labor market.
Fifty percent of firms had vacancies, down one percentage point from May, according to data out Thursday from the National Federation of Independent Business. A near-record 48% of small-business owners said they raised compensation, a slight softening from the prior month, but 28% say they intend to increase pay in the coming three months -- a pickup from May.
“The labor force participation rate has been slowly rising this year, with more people taking jobs,” Bill Dunkelberg, NFIB chief economist said in a statement. “However, the labor shortage continues to be a difficult problem for small businesses. A few more good months of increased employment might get total employment back to pre-pandemic levels.”
Even so, there were some signs of softening. A net 19% of small business owners said they plan to create new jobs in the next three months, down 7 percentage points from May.
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