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Small Businesses Claim Worker Shortage Despite High Unemployment

53% of small companies polled claim a qualified hire is hard to find

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by Dain Fitzgerald

Staff Writer t

Image: labs.openviewpartners.com

No matter all the folks out there needing work; employers are claiming they can't find the hired hands they need, reports Gallup in a new poll.

53% of small business owners surveyed reported finding it difficult - "somewhat" or "very" much so - to find qualified employees. It's a fact that can be considered somewhat paradoxical, seeing as how unemployment continues to hover around 8%. But it's a problem that may stem from the unusually long-standing periods of unemployment currently seen among workers, worse than in previous economic downturns.

"The length of the current jobs recession has left many workers unemployed for long periods of time," Gallup writes. "This may mean that many workers no longer have the skills today's businesses need."

Another reason could be the fact that small businesses, according to the report, are more likely than larger firms to be looking for part-time, temporary and contract help, something the long-term unemployed, many of whom once held full-time, professional positions, don't want.

Via Gallup.
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Why do you think small businesses can't find enough skilled workers?

Comments (view in Forum)

  • marine1
    !
    we would average 6 people to get one keeper. Most did not want to show up for work on time,called off every other week,wouldn' or couldn't learn the job responsibilities and god forbid if they had to be accountable for their mistakes.
  • jaybebo84
    !
    It is obvious...the current pool of workers for small business does not have the skill set needed to do the jobs available...people looking for work have had their jobs either shipped overseas, minimize by technology or disappeared all together...re-training and committing yourself to learn a new trade is the key to moving along in the current economy...basically, being a jack-of-all-trades will help you greatly...
  • Fishbone345
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    Some do. Mine will. I made him get a job at the age of 15. He's been getting a paycheck and paying taxes since.
    His comment the first time he got a check was priceless.
    "This is Bullshit! Why is the government taking a fourth of my money?! I'm small time!"
    Welcome to the world of adults son. ;)
  • o
    thatgirl
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    My daughter is 21, she has worked since she was 14, she has a full-time job and is a college student, so please dont paint all young people with the same broad brush.
  • jessejaymes
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    @Fishbone345 I was 8 years old and got a job sweeping the parking lot of a Dairy Queen some 10 blocks from my house every morning 7 days a week. I had to be there before school and it took more than an hour to sweep the entire lot and pick up the trash. 3.00 a week. My first check the owner of the DQ showed me the slip. Here was my "taxes", here was my social security withdrawal and so on. 2.74 cents was my pay as I recall. Or maybe it was 2.47. How on earth can you tax 3.00 a week? But they did. And they been doing it ever since. 58 years.

    Congratulations on teaching your son a work ethic. And he does need to get desensitized to the screwing for life he's going to get for the rest of his life from taxes. Unless of course he turns out to be another CEO of GE or somewhere.
  • jessejaymes
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    @thatgirl There are of course exceptions. But I ran a business for 30 years. I have seen more of a cross section of American kids than most. Our two daughters have college degrees and good jobs. But are you honestly going to claim this is the norm when 70% of graduating seniors can't even read or write to grade level?

  • View all 14 replies >

  • miketost
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    No real surprise is it?Government supports many that look for the easy way out.More like modern day slavery.When a mother of 2 can reap 60,000 dollars in fed benefits why work.When un-employment runs out why not take SS disability ,depression is now a reason to do so under the new guide lines of this administration.Yet king obama calls for free daycare and not vocational schools.Vocational education would produce workers for todays needs .
  • jessejaymes
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    "Another reason could be the fact that small businesses, according to the report, are more likely than larger firms to be looking for part-time, temporary and contract help, something the long-term unemployed, many of whom once held full-time, professional positions, don't want."

    What is that supposed to mean? How are those who once held full time etc. positions surviving without working now? Two years of unemployment has run out for most of them. So they're doing what? How about working two part time jobs to equal one? How about facing the reality that sitting in an office posting on Facebook all day long was why you're unemployed today? You weren't working. You were sucking salary. Look at all the people you see on sites everyday that admit to posting from work. It's a national epidemic according to what I read.

    I don't think the problem is that these "former professionals" don't want the small business jobs. I think the problem they're not qualified for much of any real job. Attending meetings and messing around on your phone all day long is not working. And small business doesn't need anymore slackers. If they did they can get them cheaper from the other end of the workforce.
  • Keyjo
    !
    Probably because small business wants employees who will work perpetually for minimum wage, offer no benefits, no room to advance, and only part time hours.
    Maybe if they still practiced OJT, they'd gave the skilled labor they want.
    And minimum wage should be up to $21 per hour.
  • Arumizy
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    People have become lazy and have suckled at the governments teet so long they have become lazy and unwilling to do work they consider beneath them. It is long past time to start phasing out the entitlement generation.
  • LGRepublican
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    Not every job is meant to be a career choice and therefore wasn't meant to be paid a "living wage". Just how much does a part time shelf stocker need to be paid?
  • Thunderchicken
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    There are better opportunities for skilled workers elsewhere. Small business jobs are usually lower paying, lower benifits and less stable than jobs with large corporations. (Or at least that's why I wanted in with a large stable corporation.)
  • martydotcom
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    Our schools turn out functional illiterates. Our community colleges fail to integrate their courses offered with local employers skills demands . Try and find a recent grad from a Southern inner city school capable of verbally communicating with a customer from the North in a retail environment impossible
  • PayThatCEO
    !
    I've worked for a couple of "small" businesses when I was desperate for work. Never again. Poor pay. No benefits. Nepotism. Nasty bosses. Outrageous demands. Thanks, but no thanks. I've always had better luck working for big companies where employees usually get a little more respect.
  • LGRepublican
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    It's simple. Many of those small businesses have positions that are either part time or low skilled. Generally speaking, not only do those positions don't pay what many feel they deserve, but many feel are beneath them. Combine that with our governments extending "benefits" and widening the eligibility pool for entitlements, it's no wonder many of these positions go unfilled. I've stated before, if you're making the base unemployment amount here in Wisconsin, you're eligible for food stamps, medicaid, utility assistance, housing assistance, child care assistance, etc. So the bottom line for many is "should I sit on my ass and get paid or work for not much more?" Seems the answer is apparent.
  • Jreed2k
    !
    The young people in the job force today think they should be getting paid $20.00 an hour for making hamburgers. Whether we like it or not the younger generation is socialist minded, self-centered, under-skilled, under-educated, lazy minded, and self loathing. Thanks to left wing media and over bloated education system we have.
  • PayThatCEO
    !
    How is it worth your while to work at a job that won't hire you full-time? How is it worth your while to work for a few dollars an hour that won't even pay for a tank-full of gas to get to work?

    I'm sorry. These things might be advantageous to the business owner, but aren't going to attract workers with any real ambition or interest. You get what you pay for.
  • LGRepublican
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    @PayThatCEO It's worth your while because prospective employers look to see what people did/are doing during times of unemployment. Working part time shows that you're still active and willing to do work that's less than desirable to help make a go of it. Work ethic still counts for many.
  • PayThatCEO
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    @LGRepublican

    The hell it does. If you're a systems analyst and you go from working in a corporate environment to working at McDonald's that does NOT look good on your resume. What it says is no IT company would hire you and you were desperate for a job. Trust me. Been there.

    Companies aren't interested in "desperate". And if you're unemployed, then looking for a REAL job should be your full-time job.
  • LGRepublican
    !
    @PayThatCEO So you're advocating someone continuing to collect unemployment beyond the 26 weeks because working at a "lesser" job doesn't look good on a resume? Unemployment wasn't designed to be used as a paycheck until the IDEAL job comes along, it was meant to be used as a short term paycheck until A JOB comes along. If you want to hold out longer, that's your business but the rest of us shouldn't have to pay for it.
  • PayThatCEO
    !
    @LGRepublican

    What you're advocating is for someone who has professional or trade skills who may very well be in debt for that all important education that was supposed to get them a decent-paying job to go and flip burgers for minimum wage. What if that person happens to have a family, a mortgage, a car payment...all those things you acquire when have a decent paying job. You expect them to just back peddle and spend their days asking "want fries with that" when they should be spending their time hunting for a real job? You'd prefer they lose their home and car because you think it's irresponsible of them to NOT work part-time (and that's all they'll get) at some fast food joint?

    A professional or skilled employee has no business bagging groceries, and it will only hurt their chances of being rehired in the profession in which they're trained. It's not THEIR fault jobs have left the country or employers are hiring illegal aliens or that they're refusing to hire because they've learned to work the people they have to death.

    When companies begin to hire and offer REAL jobs, THEN you'll see people go to work.
  • u
    culinary
    !
    The problem is that a large portion of the working class is sitting on the couch eating Cheetos paid for with food stamps watching a tv that they paid for with a welfare check. Why would anyone work? I lived on a farm all my life. We raised tobacco and cattle. When it came time to house or strip tobacco there was not a person to be found, even though everyone was "looking for work". If you could find someone, they would work for a day, get their money, and you would never see them again.
  • zeke
    !
    Same experience here, thats why my brother and i stopped growing tobacco. I still raise cattle but still find it hard to find workers for general maintenance around the farm.
  • Russell797
    !
    By far the majority of those who wish to work have jobs. 8% unemployment = 92% employment. I realize those who have given up looking are missing from those statistics, but the point is 8% only has meaning relative past figures at 4 or 5%. Compared to the total workforce population not that many are looking for work. Failure to qualify can mean someone is over qualified and will likely jump ship as soon as a better opportunity arises, leaving the business owner to start over with an associated loss in time and effort bring the new employee up to speed. One of the threats implied by the impending sequester is the loss of employees with skill sets which will be lost to those companies and organizations for a long, long time. Those skilled workers will find employment elsewhere. This is a disaster for organizations such as NASA, when they loose scientists due to budget cuts, there is no replacing them later. Gone forever is the skill and knowledge built up over the years.
  • u
    Jayden
    !
    Unfortunately,many of these businesses adopted an ideology of Always wanting people with a few years experience for a minimum wage unskilled job and never wanting to train new people .I mean,do they think people are born with experience? at some point in time you have to hire new "trainable" people to bring new people into your industry.But somehow, if you're an illegal, experience or even having your own transportation isn't a problem.It's not a problem to go out of their way to pick them up on the street corner.
  • Real4WheelDrv
    !
    This THIS!!!! A THOUSAND TIMES THIS!!!!! Gee, I'd love to get a job but have any of you noticed how many jobs require 2 years of experience in such and such? How exactly can those of us looking for our FIRST jobs get that experience? Even the ones that say "or a degree in" are a crock. I have DEGREES in IT etc. Doesn't mean I have any experience in the live workplace. Michigan is horrible for this, and it happens even at so-called entry level jobs.

    That was actually used as an incentive to get me to move to...Arizona I think it was..."yeah, even quite a few major businesses will let you in with no experience if the rest of your resumé measures up" sigh....
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