Small businesses, desperate to fill open positions, juice job offers with amazing perks

With unemployment at its lowest level since 1969, job applicants may have the upper hand when they walk into an interview, and that goes for job offers on Main Street as well as from corporate human resources. It is not just the Amazons of the world feeling the pressure to offer employees more. Small businesses across the United States are upping the ante in the attempt to get the candidates they want. Will they succeed? They haven't been able to for months, and the answer to this question is important to the domestic economy. In the new CNBC|SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey for the fourth quarter, business owners desperate to fill positions are shifting resources to entice potential employees, including taking a financial hit in order to staff up. After all, nearly 1 in 5 small-business owners (18 percent) have open positions they have been unable to fill for at least three months, ticking up two percentage points from last quarter.