Take 5: Remote work, skills gap and e-vehicle

NH Business Review's biweekly snapshot of business and industry statistics

FLEXJOBS recently released its 2026 New Grad Guide to Remote Work, which analyzed the most in-demand career sectors in today’s working environment. The analysis showed that the top fields hiring entry-level employees is in customer service, administrative services and sales. These sectors grew over 30% in entry-level remote job openings over the past year.

RECENT U.S. Bureau of Labor stats show that nearly 1 in 4 workers are now age 55 and older, making up 23.2% of the country’s workforce. The number of workers over age 55 grew by 17.3% since 2014, 11.7% overall. Findings also showed that some occupations already have 30% to 50% of workers nearing retirement age.

NEW research from Robert Half shows that 76% of small businesses are confident in their hiring outlook this year, yet 47% say finding skilled talent is harder than a year ago. Small business owners say skills gaps are growing on their teams, with 56% reporting gaps exist today. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index corroborates this, noting that 53% of owners report trying to hire in April, but 87% said they received few or no qualified applicants.

ABOUT a third of U.S. adults (32%) say they’re very or somewhat likely to seriously consider purchasing an electric vehicle, and 44% say the same about a hybrid, according to a Pew Research Center survey from March. Worldwide, electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids rose from 4% of all new car sales in 2020 to 25% in 2025, according to the International Energy Agency. In the U.S., EVs and hybrids rose from 2% of new car sales in 2020 to 10% five years later. In 2025, 1.5 million new electric and hybrid cars were sold in the U.S., the most of any country besides China.

A majority of Americans think climate change is a very big or moderately big problem for the country, based on findings from the Pew Research Center. About six in 10 Americans say countries around the world, including the U.S., will not do enough to avoid the worst effects of climate change. About half of U.S. adults say tech companies can do a lot to address climate change, but few expect technology to actually solve problems caused by climate change in the future.