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Small Businesses Are Struggling to Find Workers
February 10, 2020
While the U.S. economy as a whole continues to add jobs at an impressive rate, small businesses aren’t keeping up. The number of workers at businesses with fewer than 20 employees was basically unchanged in 2019, according to data from Moody’s. By contrast, companies with more than 500 employees increased their workforce by 2.3 percent.
This is the first time that small businesses have failed to expand their workforce since 2010, when the economy was just beginning to recover from the financial crisis. A similar hiring slowdown at a time when the economy is growing moderately has some economists worried.
Moody’s attributes the lack of new hires to the difficulties in finding qualified candidates, and notes that the struggles facing small businesses may soon be felt by larger employers.
