Chamber of Commerce CEO: Employers can’t find workers

The chief executive of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said Thursday that the No. 1 problem facing American businesses is their inability to hire enough qualified workers.

Suzanne Clark, who joined CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” blamed a pervasive lack of skilled labor, Covid-era government jobless benefits, lack of access to child care and restrictions on work visas for employers’ difficulty finding staff.

“I get to talk to job creators across the country: Small businesses, big businesses. In every industry, in every geography. And they keep bringing up the labor shortage: It is the first thing I hear about,” she said. “There is a lot of anxiety out there.”

Clark, the first woman to lead the 100-year-old Chamber, noted that there are a record 9.3 million job openings across the country as companies reopened in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Labor Department reported last month that job availability in April surged 32.7% in leisure and…

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