A March survey by the National Federation of Independent Business found that 42% of owners had job openings that could not be filled, a record high. Ninety-one percent of those hiring or trying to hire reported few or no qualified applicants for the positions they were trying to fill.
Holly Wade, executive director of the NFIB Research Centre, commented that this is turning into a huge obstacle to growth for many small businesses
Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, told the CNBC that she doesn’t believe there is a widespread labour shortage. She argued that the lack of workers may have contributed to the employers not raising the wages. She said that she often suggests that whenever anyone says, ‘I can’t find the workers I need,’ she should really add, ‘at the wages I want to pay.’
The once side of the coin: Small Businesses cannot raise wages if they are not making the money to do so. This has been the case pre-pandemic, more so now if they are operating at reduced capacity due to social distancing rules.
The other side of the coin: Fear.
According to Forbes, a year after the pandemic arrived in the US, 8.4 million fewer Americans are holding jobs. There are many reasons for this, the most important one is being afraid of catching the virus.
The third side of the coin, if that can be said. The pandemic has forced many employees to ‘work from home’, making it a workable solution for companies.
How about taking it one step further, marrying a struggling SME with the perfect skill set at a wage that is affordable for the SME to grow and prosper. The employee feels safe, working remotely, at the perfect pay grade.
Erase the borders, turn the world into a global village where the SME’s accountant is working from Paraguay, the PA based in Namibia. Business owner, the world is your oyster.
Why You Can’t Find Workers And How To Change This
Small businesses struggle to find workers as pandemic eases CNBC
