Illustration: Rebecca Zisser/Axios
- To fill a whopping 7.1 million job openings in the $4 labor market in a half-century, employers are loosening their requirements and raising traditional benefits to lure workers.
- Ten percent of small businesses this past quarter have offered - for the first time - to repay a part of student loans, relax drug policies or hire ex-cons, according to the latest $4.
The job search just got a little bit sweeter. 10% of small businesses this past quarter have offered - for the first time - to repay a part of student loans, relax drug policies or hire ex-cons, according to the latest $4. Reeling from the 3.7% unemployment rate, businesses large and small have also raised $4 and $4.
The big picture: To fill a whopping 7.1 million job openings in the $4 labor market in a half-century, employers are loosening their requirements and raising traditional benefits to lure workers.
Impact: "Workers are the bigger winners as the labor market tightens," Indeed's Chief Economist Jed Kolko tells Axios.
By the numbers:
- 12% of small businesses offered student loan repayment as a new benefit in the last quarter.
- 14% relaxed their drug policies.
- 12% considered candidates with a criminal record for the first time.
These numbers show small businesses are increasingly tracking with cultural shifts affecting current job seekers: an increasingly indebted workforce, a growing number of states legalizing Marijuana use, and an unemployment rate among ex-felons that's more than 7 times higher than the national average.
Why it matters:
- These survey results place small businesses ahead of the curve on student loan repayment. While 12% of small businesses experimented with offering this benefit this quarter, only about 4% of companies overall offer student loan repayment benefits, per the Society for Human Resource Management's 2018 Employee Benefits $4.
- Labor force participation rates have dropped in areas where opioid prescription rates are high over the last 15 years, Axios' Caitlin Owens $4, and as Americans take advantage of $4 in several states, employers may have a vested interest in overlooking prior or current drug use to broaden their pool of candidates.
- Unemployment for former felons was 27% earlier this year, per The Prison Policy Initiative's $4 (there are no federal figures for former felons' unemployment), yet most human resource managers report they would consider hiring those who have been incarcerated (only about 14% of human resource managers say they won't consider it), per a report by the Society of Human Resources Management.
Yes, but: While firms are debuting these new practices, there has also been a shift in bargaining power toward employers. Weaker unions, outsized firms and more noncompetes "make it harder for workers to look for and get outside offers," Kolko tells Axios.