(WTVO) — Even as hourly wages are up in Illinois, some workers are finding it more difficult to find employment.
A report by WalletHub shows Illinois’s jobs-opening rate is currently 6.93%. According to Chris Davis, Illinois state director of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, that is because businesses have hit the pause button on hiring.
“We are in a pause of uncertainty right now,” Davis said. “Less than one in five businesses have fully recovered from the pandemic, and you still have inflation being a substantial burden on small business owners.”
Davis added that inflation in Illinois, which is currently just below 7%, has driven up the cost of hiring new workers.
“It is coming at them from every angle,” Davis said. “Workers are demanding higher wages, fuel and heating and cooling costs have increased, and supply chain issues have caused inputs to increase.”
As a result, qualified candidates have been hard to find, Davis said.
“You have a misalignment of the needs of employers and the skills of the workers,” he said. “Of those 44% of employers attempting to hire, 48% of those 44% are reporting a lack of qualified applicants.”
