The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) this morning, and it showed that there are 9.6 million job openings in the month of August. While overall demand increased significantly from July, (8.8 million job openings), demand for talent by small businesses declined month-over-month. For businesses with 1-9 employees, there was a decline of more than 200,000 job openings. (Nonseasonally adjusted.) This confirms the trend seen in the latest survey of over 60,000 small businesses by PublicSq. and RedBalloon.work.
The September Freedom Economy Index found that just 29.8% were planning to hire to expand operations in the coming 6 months. That’s off more than one-fifth from the August number of 37.7%. Additionally, there was a corresponding uptick in businesses who are neither hiring nor reducing staff, moving from 20.2% in August to 28.1% in September.
“Small business owners are growing increasingly worried about the direction of the economy and the job market,” Andrew Crapuchettes, RedBalloon CEO said. “The August JOLTS and September Freedom Economy Index show that they are entering a holding pattern when it comes to expanding their operations.”
Businesses have entered a holding pattern when it comes to expanding their company as recessionary fears continue to loom larger on the horizon and inflation stubbornly sticks around. Stay tuned for more insights into the Freedom Economy with the release of the September survey on Thursday, October 5.
Find the results of the survey here Thursday.