Small businesses are no exception.
The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation s largest small business association, released a report on Tuesday that found that while small business optimism increased by 1.6 points since March, a record 44% of owners reported job openings that could not be filled in April. Also, 36% of owners reported raising their selling prices the highest reading since 1981. Small business owners are seeing a growth in sales but are stunted by not having enough workers, NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg said in a statement. Finding qualified employees remains the biggest challenge for small businesses and is slowing economic growth. Owners are raising compensation, offering bonuses and benefits to attract the right employees.
May 9, 2021
JANESVILLE
Rock County could purchase Camp Indian Trails and turn it into a county park with camping for youth groups.
A detailed report that lays out the idea is on the agenda of the county boardâs Public Works Committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday.
The report suggests the purchase cost could be between $1.2 million and $1.6 million.
Committee Chairperson Rick Richard said the county is expecting around $31 million from the federal American Rescue Plan legislation, and it appears some of that money could help with the purchase.
âThe opportunity for the county to acquire 180 wooded and recreational acres on the Rock River and open it as a park to county citizens comes along once in a lifetime, and Iâm hearing support for the purchase from most people Iâve talked with in the county,â Richard said.
AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File
WASHINGTON (AP) The anticipation for the U.S. jobs report for April, released Friday morning, was high. Most experts agreed that after a yearlong pandemic, tens of millions of layoffs and widespread disease and death, a likely second straight month of nearly one million added jobs would send a clear signal: The economy was bounding back toward full health after a devastating recession.
Instead, the report was a clunker. To nearly everyone s surprise, employers added a comparatively paltry 266,000 jobs, down drastically from a gain of 770,000 in March, which itself was revised down from an initially much higher figure of 916,000. Once the shock wore off, economists grappled with a host of questions, starting with: What happened last month and why? What did the tepid hiring gain say about the state of the job market and the economy? And is there really a labor shortage?
Updated: 11:43 AM CDT May 8, 2021
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Show Transcript I want to, I want to put today s jobs report in perspective and look, we came to office, we knew we were facing a once in a century pandemic and a once in a generation economic crisis and we knew this wouldn t be a sprint, It would be a marathon. Quite frankly, removing more rapidly than I thought we would this morning, we learned that our economy created 266,000 jobs in April, hadn t been adjusted again yet, but that s what it says to 66 and listening to commentators today, as I was getting dressed, you might think that we should be disappointed. But when we passed the american rescue plan, I want to remind you what it was designed to help us over the course of a year, Not 60 days a year. We never thought that after the 1st 50 or 60 days, everything would be fine. Today. There is more evidence that our economy is moving in the right direction, but it s clear we have a long way to go. All told, our e