Nearly half of small business owners in the US reported job openings in July, an all-time high and more than double the historical average, the National Alliance of Independent Enterprises (NFIB) said on Thursday.
In its monthly employment report, the association said that, on a seasonally adjusted basis, 49 per cent of small business owners reported job openings in July, up from 46 per cent in June and 27 percentage points higher than the average of 22 per cent over the past 48 years.
The report also showed that 93 per cent of employers said they had little or no "qualified" applications for the positions they tried to fill in July.
This summer, small businesses in the United States continue to face labor shortages. The novel coronavirus pandemic, which has lasted for more than a year, has put pressure on business activities and aggravated the labor shortage problem.
According to the report, 43 per cent of the small businesses surveyed had job vacancies for skilled workers and 25 per cent for unskilled workers, both up 3 percentage points from June.
Analysts expect the Labor Department to report on Friday that non-farm payrolls rose by 870000 in July, compared with an increase of 850000 last month. At this rate, jobs will still be nearly 5.9 million fewer than their peak in February 2020.