WASHINGTON—The U.S. Chamber of Commerce called for the federal government and states to take swift action to address “the country’s ever-worsening workforce crisis,” as the economy gains momentum, triggering a strong demand for labor.
“America’s great economic resurgence is being held back by an unprecedented workforce shortage—and it’s getting worse,” Neil Bradley, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement on June 8.
“We are seeing an increasing number of businesses turning down work and only partially reopening because they can’t find enough workers.”
The statement came after the Labor Department report showed that April job openings hit an all-time high of 9.3 million. This was higher than the consensus forecast of 8.2 million.
The number of hires, meanwhile, increased slightly to 6.1 million, suggesting that job positions are opening faster than businesses can fill them.
Millions of Americans are still unemployed, even as many business owners are having trouble filling jobs. The gap of 3.2 million between the number of job openings and hires was the largest on record, Scott Anderson, chief economist at the San Francisco-based Bank of the West, said in a report.
According to Anderson, “COVID fears, a lack of child care, skills mismatches, and generous jobless benefits are collectively holding back people from rejoining the labor force.”
The sector with the greatest increase in job openings in April was food services, which added 349,000 openings.
Recent business surveys show that many small-business owners are also “struggling at record levels” at finding qualified workers. According to a monthly survey by the National Federation of Independent Business, job openings in May rose to an all-time high, with 48 percent of firms saying they can’t fill job openings.
Companies blame the generous federal unemployment benefit as the biggest barrier to a job market rebound. The Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion stimulus plan extended the weekly unemployment benefit at $300 through Sept. 6.
BY EMEL AKAN
