(The Center Square) – Georgia’s small businesses continue to struggle with finding qualified workers, even as businesses say they are hiring, according to the National Federation of Independent Business.
The organization randomly surveyed 883 businesses nationwide. Job openings are 36%, up four points from June to July. It’s the highest level since June 2025, according to the organization.
But labor availability remains an issue, rising eight points to 27%.
“Most of the primary spending driving the economy is heavily concentrated in big projects like new data centers for AI,” said Bill Dunkelberg, chief economist for the National Federation of Independent Business. “Hiring plans suggest that small business owners are expecting a surge in business that will require more workers.”
Georgia businesses are having the same issue, according to Hunter Loggins, Georgia director for the National Federation of Independent Business.
“It’s still hard for many of them to find qualified workers,” Loggins said. “Without enough people to work, owners may have to reduce hours, limit services and ask customers to pay higher prices to offset higher wages.”
The number of businesses surveyed that are planning to hire in the next three months increased by 9% from June to July, reaching a net 20%. It’s the highest number since October 2022, according to the report.
Georgia’s labor force reached an all-time high in June, according to numbers released in July by the Georgia Department of Labor.
Nearly 5.5 million workers were in the labor pool, an increase of 7,179, a record number of workers.
The number of employed Georgians increased by 10,359 to 5,294,220, up 65,396 from the year before, the department said.
Jobs were down by 10,100 over the month but up by 6,000 over the year. The state had 4,988,900 jobs, according to the department.
The state’s unemployment rate for June is 3.4%, slightly below the national rate of 4.2% reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
