Drew Dixon
Florida has witnessed a long streak of lower unemployment than the national figure.
However, small business employers in the Sunshine State and other states say they are having a tough time filling open positions at their businesses.
The National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) reports that in August, business owners across the U.S. said they could not fill about 40% of all the job openings they have listed. That’s up two points from the July figure.
NFIB officials said they have no breakout information for each state and they are using information provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). But even in an age of relatively low unemployment rates, employers struggle to fill jobs that have remained open for a while.
“Job openings on Main Street remain historically high as small business owners continue to lament the lack of qualified applicants for their open positions,” said NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg. “Owners have grown understandably frustrated as attempts to fill their workforce repeatedly stall and cost pressures continue to rise.”
The August national unemployment rate, released Friday, showed the U.S. jobless figure at 4.2%, which is little changed from the previous month.
“The August jobs report highlights the crucial challenge of finding qualified workers for Florida’s small business owners. For small businesses to grow and strengthen the economy, they need a productive workforce to reach their full potential,” said NFIB Florida Executive Director Bill Herrle.
The lack of filling positions for many businesses is not due to a lack of effort by business owners. According to the NFIB, 62% of small business owners hired or tried to hire new or replacement employees in August. That’s up by five points in July.
In Florida, the number of job listings and the fact that many of those remain unfilled were significant factors in the July unemployment report.
While the state monthly general unemployment rate for July was 3.3%, the Florida Commerce Department report pointed out a large disparity between the number of jobs being filled and the number of open positions advertised in the state.
In July, 433,000 job openings were posted online in Florida, which is more jobs advertised online than there were Floridians unemployed in July.
Florida’s July unemployment rate of 3.3% is nearly one percentage point lower than the national figure of 4.2%. July was the 45th straight month that the Sunshine State has had a lower unemployment rate than the national figure.
