The Indiana Chamber released findings of its 16th annual statewide employer survey last week (conducted in partnership with our Institute for Workforce Excellence).

Over 1,000 employers from various industries and all regions of Indiana took part in the research, which concluded in August.

While employers again indicated by a wide margin that finding/retaining talent was their biggest challenge, that number, 42%, was 10% lower than last year. The next highest selection was inflation and economic factors at only 9%.

Strikingly, the percentage of employers reporting that the supply of qualified applicants does not meet their needs has dropped sharply in the last two years from 72% in 2021 to 62% in 2022 and now 52% in 2023.

Still, almost a third (31%) of employers reported that their company left a “significant” or “notable” amount of jobs unfilled in Indiana last year due to underqualified applicants. Add in those who left a “small” number of jobs unfilled (37%) and that combined total reaches nearly 70%.

Zeroing in on the external factors negatively impacting their workforce, employers led with childcare and housing woes – each at 30%, followed by lack of suitable transportation at 19%. Rounding out the top five at 15%: lack of diversity and quality schools.

Increasingly, companies seem ready to welcome Hoosiers from a variety of circumstances.

Employers were open to hiring or already have hired individuals who are non-violent ex-felons (41%) or immigrants/non-English speakers (34%), as well as those with physical disabilities (47%) or mental disabilities (28%).

That mindset will continue to be critical going forward as nearly half (48%) of respondents anticipate the size of their workforce will increase in the next 24 to 48 months. Only 5% predict their workforce size will decrease. A clear trend with this question was the larger a firm is in terms of number of current employees, the more likely they are to expect to expand their workforce.

Almost 70% of respondents believe the state is headed in the right direction. That sentiment from employers is much higher than the 39% from all Hoosier voters answering the same question via a recent poll by our political action committee, Indiana Business for Responsive Government.

Full results of the employer survey are available at www.indianachamber.com/survey.