A three year long worker shortage is showing no signs of slowing, which is putting the pinch on small business owners during their busiest time of the year, 1200 WOAI reports
"They're out there, probably putting in 60 hours a week or 80 hours a week," Jeff Burdett with the Federation of Independent Business in Texas says.
The NFIB's November jobs report found that 36-percent of small business owners reported job openings they could not fill in November. That's up one point from October. Labor costs were singled out as the most important problem for business owners.
Burdett tells 1200 WOAI's Michael Board that, when you can't hire enough workers to meet the Christmas rush, then it falls on the small business owner to work around the clock.
"They love their business and they want to do all they can for that business and so that's just kind of part of being a small business owner. You put in those type of hours," he explains.
It has been a challenging time for mom-and-pop shops. The latest report from the Better Business Bureau in Texas found that nearly two-out-of-ten businesses fail within their first year of operation. And 50-percent go out of business after five years.
The Bureau says, for many small businesses, support from their community is a major influence on their longevity.
Texas spokeswoman Amy Rasor says, to help keep your favorite local business afloat, order directly from their websites instead of going through a third party like Amazon.
"That third party gets a portion of the sale," she says.
Burdett says it's too early to tell how this Holiday shopping season will turn out. But, he says, preliminary reports show that Black Friday and Small Business Saturday sales are trending up.
"A lot of our businesses make, maybe, a third of their money in the last quarter of the year. It's a very, very important quarter for small businesses."