(Natural News) A Chamber of Commerce report released Tuesday, June 1, warned that a recent labor shortage plaguing businesses nationwide is worsening. The Chamber’s report described the situation as a “national economic crisis.”
According to the report, the United States had a record 8.1 million vacant job openings in March – the last month where data was available. It was an increase of 600,000 from February.
Some states have more job openings than workers
The Chamber found that there “are approximately half as many available workers for every open job,” or 1.4 available workers per job opening, across the country and that “the ratio continues to fall.” The organization noted that there were 2.8 available workers per job opening on average in the previous 20 years.
“In several states and several industries, including hard-hit sectors like education and health services as well as professional and business services, there are currently fewer available workers than the total number of jobs open,” the Chamber wrote, adding that more than 90 percent of local Chambers of Commerce have reported that worker shortages are hurting their economies.
The states with the lowest worker availability rate include Vermont, Nebraska and South Dakota. All three states had a ratio of less than 1.
The report also pointed to an underwhelming April jobs report released by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, which found that just 266,000 jobs were created. Analysts had expected that more than 1 million would be created.
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