Everything Small Businesses Are Saying Points To Higher Wages

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The latest jobs report crushed expectations.

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November saw the biggest single-month gain payrolls since January 2012. Plus, unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.8% in November - once again, the lowest rate since 2008.

According to the latest small business optimism from the National Federation of Independent Business, good labor in America is still in short supply.

Forty-five percent of respondents reported "few or no qualified applications" for the positions they were trying to fill - unchanged from October. This number has been continuously trending higher since 2009.

Additionally, twenty-one percent of firms reported actual compensation changes in the past three months, up from October's nineteen percent. This number has also been trending upwards since the financial crisis.

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And while sales are still one of the bigger concerns for small businesses, it's seen a major drop as the "single most important problem."

The change towards labor quality becoming the most important problem for more employers suggests that economic concerns are shifting from weak demand to tight supply.

And all of this points to higher wages for America's workers.