One in three small business owners right now has a job opening they cannot fill.

That's the headline from NFIB's April 2026 Jobs Report, which surveyed owners across the country this spring. The share of businesses with unfilled positions - 34% - is the highest it's been since June 2025, and it's still 10 percentage points above the historical average.

But the harder number is buried two lines down.

The Real Problem: Applicants Who Can Do the Job

Of the businesses actively trying to hire, 46% said they got few or no qualified applicants. Not few applicants total - few qualified ones.

That's the actual story. Workers are available. Workers who can do what these businesses actually need are harder to find.

NFIB asked owners to name their single most important business problem. Labor quality - not labor cost, not inflation, not interest rates - came in first in April, cited by 18% of owners. That's up 3 points from March. It's also above the historical average of 12%, which means this isn't a blip. It's a trend.

Labor costs ranked second, cited by 9% - and actually ticked down one point from March.

Translation: owners are less worried about what they're paying and more worried about who they can get.

What the Hiring Data Actually Shows

A few other numbers from the report worth understanding:

• 53% of small business owners reported hiring or trying to hire in April - up 1 point from March
• A net 13% plan to create new jobs in the next three months - close to the historical average of 11%
• A net 30% raised compensation in April, down 3 points from March - the first real easing in wage pressure this year
• Compensation plans for the next 3 months are unchanged: a net 18% plan to raise pay

The hiring intent is still there. The pipeline is the problem.

What This Means If You're Hiring

If you've posted a job recently and gotten a flood of applications but struggled to find someone who actually fits the role, you're in the majority. The challenge isn't getting resumes - it's finding the right ones.

A few things that have worked for other owners in similar positions:

Narrow the job description. Overly broad postings attract overly broad applicants. Be specific about the one or two skills that are actually non-negotiable.

Look at adjacent skills. If you can't find someone with exactly five years of X, consider someone with two years of X and strong adjacent experience. The NFIB data suggests owners waiting for the perfect candidate are waiting a long time.

Ask for a work sample or short task. It filters faster than a second interview and surfaces genuine capability quickly.

Post where your candidate actually is. Trade-specific forums, community college job boards, and local Facebook groups often outperform Indeed for skilled hourly and trades roles.

The labor market isn't broken - it's just more specific than the headline numbers suggest. The 34% with open jobs aren't failing to attract people. They're trying to find the right ones.

Data from the NFIB April 2026 Jobs Report, published May 2026.