The monthly survey of small business owners nationwide finds that labor quality remains the biggest concern.
National Federation of Independent Business Louisiana director Dawn McVea said 42 percent of owners report job openings are hard to fill, which is a historically high percentage.
“It’s that combination of, are people coming in to apply, and then, after that, are people actually showing up for work?” said McVea.
McVea said labor quality has been an issue the since the pandemic started. She said there are a couple of theories on why.
“People have gone into business for themselves, people have just quit the labor force altogether, we know there are some numbers that indicate that,” she said.
But McVea said this latest survey did find that optimism among small business owners is gradually improving. She said inflation has eased slightly and some small business owners believe the worst is behind them.
“Really happy to see that, because when small business owners feel better about what’s going on in the economy, it really does reflect for everybody,” McVea said.