The state director of one of Missouri’s top business groups says the labor market is not going in the right direction.
NFIB Missouri’s Brad Jones joined us live on 939 the Eagle’s “Wake Up Missouri”, telling listeners that 38 percent of Missouri small businesses had jobs that they couldn’t fill in February. That’s up from 35 percent in January:
“If they’re still having trouble finding people means they’re going to continue to have to pay more to get people. And that is just a huge inflationary pressure out there,” Mr. Jones tells listeners.
NFIB Missouri’s Jones also predicts Columbia’s Schneider Electric will have to bring in workers from other states for their planned $73-million expansion. Schneider Electric’s expansion at their plant on Route B is expected to create about 240 new jobs.
“They’re going to have to recruit from all over the country, there’s no question about it especially for specialized kind of training like that,” Jones says.
Many of our listeners will remember that the plant was known for years as Square D. You can hear the full “Wake Up” interview with Brad Jones here.
