WASHINGTON, D.C., July 2, 2014 — Chief economist for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) William C. Dunkelberg, issued the following statement on June’s job numbers, based on NFIB’s monthly economic survey that will be released on Tuesday, July 8, 2014. The survey was conducted in June and reflects the responses of 672 sampled NFIB members:
THIS REPORT TEXT COMPARES JUNE FINDINGS TO MAY FIGURES.
“NFIB owners increased employment by an average of 0.05 workers per firm in June (seasonally adjusted), the ninth positive month in a row and the best string of gains since 2006. Seasonally adjusted, 12 percent of the owners (up 1 point) reported adding an average of 3.3 workers per firm over the past few months. Offsetting that, 13 percent reduced employment (up 1 point) an average of 3.1 workers, producing the seasonally adjusted net gain of 0.05 workers per firm overall. The rather substantial dent in first quarter growth did not have much of an impact on Main Street
The remaining 75 percent of owners made no net change in employment. Fifty-three percent of the owners hired or tried to hire in the last three months and 43 percent (81 percent of those trying to hire or hiring) reported few or no qualified applicants for open positions.
Twenty-six percent of all owners reported job openings they could not fill in the current period (up 2 points), suggesting more downward pressure on the unemployment rate. Fourteen percent reported using temporary workers, unchanged for several months.
Job creation plans continued to strengthen and rose 2 percentage points to a seasonally adjusted net 12 percent, approaching “normal” levels for a growing economy (even with no growth last quarter). Not seasonally adjusted, 18 percent plan to increase employment at their firm (down 3 points), and 5 percent plan reductions (unchanged).
On a seasonally adjusted basis, job creation plans continued to improve as did the percent of owners reporting hard to fill job openings. This signals that the jobs numbers will be solid and the unemployment rate will fall.”
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