Richmond Fed, Report: Small Business Job Openings

“Job openings by small businesses rose 59 percent from February 2020 to February 2023. In contrast, job openings by large businesses rose 6 percent over the same period. Small businesses have also seen a sharper increase in their job openings rate over the pandemic: from 4.5 percent in February 2020 to 6.4 percent in February 2023. This 1.9 percentage point increase contrasts with the 1.4 percentage point increase (4.8 percent to 6.2 percent) that large businesses experienced over the same period. Furthermore, small businesses now make up 79 percent of total private sector job openings, up from 72 percent in February 2020.”

“But small-business job openings may soon start to decline. According to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Small Business Economic Trends survey from February, the net percentage of small businesses planning to increase employment has fallen to 17 percent in February 2023 from a record high of 32 percent in August 2021. Because the official Bureau of Labor Statistics job openings measure is meant to capture positions for which employers are actively recruiting, the decline in the number of businesses planning to increase employment should result in further