10 states where employers are having the hardest time hiring

Early on in the pandemic, workers were clamoring for jobs that weren’t available. Two years later, the tables have turned.

Throughout 2021, millions of workers left their jobs, and the trend has yet to slow: in November alone, a record 4.5 million employees called it quits. Now, employers are struggling to fill those open positions. A recently released report from WalletHub highlights the states where employers are having the hardest time hiring workers, with job opening rates hovering above 8%, on average, for more than a year in some locales.

“Many people are actually switching jobs because they are finding better-paid positions, or positions with a better package of pay, benefits and work-life balance,” Rowena Gray, an associate professor at the University of California, Merced, said in the report. “The high turnover rate might then be thought of as a chance to make better matches between workers and employers, which might also boost productivity.”

Read more: 15 most in-demand jobs during the great resignation

Finding new ways to attract new workers and retain existing ones is high on the list of priorities for employers.

In the report, Teresa A. Sullivan, president emerita and professor at the University of Virginia, recommended that employers seeking to boost their workforce conduct “two types of interviews: with long-term employees to find out why they stay, and with departing employees to find out what was more attractive about another job.”

These are the 10 states where employers are struggling the most when it comes to hiring, according to WalletHub: