Drew Dixon
Small-business owners are doing relatively well in their search for qualified workers, according to a new analysis by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).
In the April jobs report by the NFIB, some 34% of small-business owners said they struggled to hire qualified workers to fill job openings.
While that seems like a notable workforce gap, the figure is down 6 points from the March number. It’s also the lowest percentage since January 2021, when the country was coming out of the grips of a stubborn COVID pandemic as workers were starting to return to businesses.
But NFIB Florida Executive Director Bill Herrle said Sunshine State business owners are still finding it tough to fill many open positions.
“Florida’s small businesses continue to report hiring struggles despite their efforts to create new jobs and fill open positions. As the Florida Legislature debates the budget during the extended session, they must keep small businesses in mind and not exacerbate the challenges on Main Street,” Herrle said.
There is no state-specific data available in the NFIB monthly report. But U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) statistics show Florida’s weekly unemployment claims have remained relatively stable in 2025 thus far.
The last two weeks have seen new jobless filings in Florida decline, according to the DOL. Most reports this year have produced decreases in first-time claims. There have only been a few times where that figure has exceeded 6,000. The state unemployment rate has also remained at 3.6% for the past two months, which is below the national rate of 4.2%.
Meanwhile, the NFIB figures showed that 56% of small-business owners say they tried to hire more workers in April. That’s up by 3 percentage points from March. But 85% of those business owners say they have few or no qualified people applying for their open jobs.
“Job openings were the highest in the construction, transportation, and manufacturing sectors. Job openings in the wholesale industry rose 16 points from the prior month to 36%,” the NFIB report said.
Of those small-business owners maintaining a workforce, 33% said they gave their employees a raise last month, which is down 5 percentage points from March.
