Poll: Small Business Owners Throttling Back on Raising Pay

(NN&V) – For the past year, small-business owners had been on a historic clip in raising compensation to attract workers, but that is slowing considerably, according to the July Jobs Report released yesterday by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation’s largest small-business association.

“Fewer small business owners are planning to raise compensation in the coming months, and plans to hire remain stable,” said NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg.

“July marks the second month of net gains in employment on Main Street, and the number of firms with open positions remains exceptionally high.”

Added Tray Abney, NFIB’s Nevada state director, “Costs are still up, the availability of a qualified workforce is still down, and fewer small business job-creators are planning to raise employee compensation. Business owners need predictability and stability, which are difficult to find in this election year.”

“We look forward to our elected officials getting off the campaign trail and back to work on important issues, such as reducing credit card transaction fees and stopping a massive small business tax increase.”

Highlights from the July Jobs Report 

• A seasonally adjusted net 33% of small business owners reported raising compensation in July, down five points from last month and the lowest reading since April 2021. A net 18% (seasonally adjusted) plan to raise compensation in the next three months, down four points from June.
• Overall, 57% of small business owners reported hiring or trying to hire in July, down three points from June. Forty-nine percent (86% of those hiring or trying to hire) of owners reported few or no qualified applicants for the positions they were trying to fill. Twenty-nine percent of owners reported few qualified applicants for their open positions and 20% reported none.

• Job openings in construction were up four points from June and over half of them (55%) have a job opening they can’t fill. Job openings were the highest in the construction, transportation, and retail sectors, and the lowest in the agriculture and finance sectors.

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The NFIB Research Foundation has collected Small Business Economic Trends data with quarterly surveys since 1974 and monthly surveys since 1986. Survey respondents are drawn from NFIB’s membership. The survey was conducted in July 2024 and reflects a random sample of 10,000 small-business owners/members. 

Keep up with the latest Nevada small-business news at www.nfib.com/nevada, where this news release can also be found, or by following NFIB on Twitter @NFIB_NV. 

For 80 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven association. Since our founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.