Workers hard to find amid state's record low unemployment rate

New Hampshire’s July unemployment rate of 1.7% — lowest in the country — is a bragging point for state officials, but it also means some employers are finding it hard to find new employees.

One example is the Monadnock Food Co-op in Keene, which had eight job openings on its website Wednesday for positions in its grocery and deli departments as well as its kitchen. Entry-level positions start at $15 an hour.

“We’re getting fewer job applicants,” General Manager Michael Faber said in an interview Tuesday. “There’s just not as many people out there looking for employment.”

Richard Lavers, deputy commissioner for NH Employment Security, said one pool of prospective employees is people who did contract work earlier in the pandemic and now want full-time jobs with better compensation and benefits, including paid time off.

“Compensation has gone up significantly across the board compared to prior to the pandemic,” he said, adding that New Hampshire private-sector wages are up 6% over the past year. 

Employers are also offering flexible hours and the ability to work remotely to entice workers, he said. 

Some industries are having more success than others in filling open positions. 

“Food and beverage is one of those sectors that has seen some improvement in finding workers, but where the real struggles continue to be are in health care and child care,” Lavers said.

“We have some sectors that are having a hard time filling positions, but, overall, when you compare that to the alternative of a high unemployment rate, those are pretty good problems to have.”

Gov. Chris Sununu was even more effusive when he put out a news release earlier this month about the 1.7% unemployment rate, lowest ever for the state and about half the national rate of 3.5%.

“We’ve cut taxes again and again, we’ve slashed red tape to make it easier than ever to work in the Granite State, and we’ve become a destination for families and businesses alike as the fastest growing state in New England. THE NEW HAMPSHIRE MODEL WORKS!”

The next lowest unemployment rates were in Maryland and Vermont, 1.8% each.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 45,000 open jobs in New Hampshire, or 6.1% of all jobs, in June, the latest month for which this statistic was available. The national job openings rate was 5.8%.

The number of unemployed people in New Hampshire per job opening was 0.3, half the national rate, according to another BLS statistic.

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These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.