December 19, 2022 – A new survey shows there has been a sharp increase in the number of Illinois small businesses implementing hiring freezes or laying off workers.
Alignable’s December Hiring report reveals that 82% of small businesses in Illinois won’t be adding staff, the highest percentage in the country.
Nationwide, an average of 74% of small business employers have instituted hiring freezes until at least the spring of 2023, up 12 percentage points from November. The reasons include they can’t afford to hire full-time permanent employees because of inflation, reduced revenues, high labor costs and fears of recession.
Agriculture, real estate and finance were the top three industries implementing hiring freezes.
Eleven percent of Illinois small business owners indicated they are planning layoffs in December, an increase of 8% from November. Only Colorado (21%), Michigan (20%), Texas (17%), California (16%), and Ohio (12%) had higher percentages.
Sixty-one percent of small business owners nationwide said high inflation continues to have a negative impact on their financial well-being.
The report is based on the sentiments of 6,908 randomly selected small business owners polled from Nov. to Dec. 8, as well as 100,000+ historical responses from surveys over the past 2.5 years.
