Businesses around the state are struggling to find employees for their open positions. | Canva
Businesses around the state are struggling to find employees for their open positions. | Canva
New data shows that a vast majority of Wisconsin businesses are having trouble filling their open vacancies.
According to the winter 2022 Wisconsin Employer Survey, nearly nine in 10 Wisconsin employers are struggling to hire.
The survey reported that 88% of businesses were having difficulty filling open positions. More than 80% of businesses surveyed are expected to increase wages by at least 3% this year. Additionally, 34% said that they would be raising wages by more than 4%.
"Wages are rising much faster than they have in recent memory," WMC President and CEO Kurt Bauer said.
He also talked about the problems that companies are having finding employees to fill positions.
"Wisconsin does not have enough people to fill the jobs we have available, and that creates an aggressive competition for talent. We are seeing wages rise at a faster rate, sign-on bonuses, work flexibility and many other strategies from companies to attract and retain talent," he said.
Meanwhile, attitude toward the state's economic outlook is on the downtrend. Only slightly more than half of Wisconsin businesses – 53% – say that the state's economy is strong. This number is down from 58% when surveyed last summer. Business owners are even more negative about the nation's economy, with 39% saying that the economy is strong, down from 53% last year.
Allen Huffcutt, a human resources professor at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, said that rising wages benefits some workers, but may be harming businesses as it's a never-ending race to the top.
"If one company raises their wages and lured away some employees, somebody else loses. There just isn't enough free employees or potential workers to fill those extra spots, so one gains, one loses," he said.
Of course, data shows that rising wages fuel strong economic growth and business revenue.
Nick Novak of the WMC said that it's time for the governor to step in and help the situation. There are more than 130,000 jobs currently available in Wisconsin.
"We're calling on policy makers and Gov. (Tony) Evers specifically to instate a talent attraction campaign that will attract people here to Wisconsin to take these great career opportunities that we have," he said.
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