We’ve heard President Trump say it one hundred times, “The focus of this administration is three things … Jobs, Jobs, Jobs”! In a political period characterized by this slogan, keeping track of the number of hirings by franchises within the United States seems more than appropriate. In May of 2017, franchise hiring increased by 18,500 new jobs. This number is a big improvement over an increase of only 4,500 jobs in April. Overall in the private sector, the number of new jobs increased by over 250,000. Restaurants and auto dealers showed the largest hiring increases while business services lagged behind.

The unemployment rate as reported by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics fell to 4.3 percent the best level since the pre-boom era of the early 2000’s. Small businesses continue to be the engine of job creation adding 83,000 jobs in May 2017.

www.hotair.com reports that, according to economist Mark Zandi, “Job growth is rip-roaring. The current pace of job growth is nearly three times the rate necessary to absorb growth in the labor force. Increasingly, businesses’ number one challenge will be a shortage of labor.”

If one had to bet, given the repatriation of jobs from Mexico and overseas and the deportation of millions of illegal immigrant workers, a labor shortage could be a real crisis for small businesses going forward and present a conundrum for the economy. On the one hand, competition for workers is good for workers in that it increases the salaries they can demand. Conversely, higher wages could result in less hiring eventually and/or higher labor costs being passed on consumers in the form of higher prices. There is no easy answer to the problem.

Sources: \\http://hotair.com/archives/2017/06/01/adps-zandi-expect-rip-roaring-job-growth-tomorrows-bls-report/