Forequarter restaurant in Madison, Wisconsin, has managed to pull off a rare feat. Not only has it has stayed in business for six years, it is also still routinely referred to as trendy. On a recent visit, people were already showing up for dinner by 5:00 p.m. on a weeknight. Business is good, said owner Jonny Hunter, but it could be so much better.

Getty Images

“We’re not open as much as we want to,” he said. The restaurant is open only for dinner, and it is closed on Sundays. Hunter said he would love to do more, if only he could staff the place. “I think we would do brunch. We might see some lunch service happening and maybe some breakfast, too,” he said. “The idea of trying to open more services here — you know, we can’t even hardly staff our dinner service.” Like so many employers across the country, the Forequarter is stuck in what experts call the skills gap — businesses unable to fill skilled positions. And make no mistake, Hunter said, working in the kitchen at a gourmet restaurant takes specialized skills. “Your cooks need to be able to execute a fine-dining dish in a fairly quick amount of time, and those skills don’t come to you necessarily in a week or a month,” he said.

Jonny Hunter, owner of Forequarter restaurant in Madison, Wisconsin CNBC | Betsy Spring

The skills gap has been around for a while. It helps explain why, for the last four years, Workforce has been the most heavily weighted category in CNBC’s America’s Top States for Business study. Employers are clamoring for talent, and states are touting their people. A recent survey of the CNBC , which represents a cross-section of public and private companies, found that roughly 83 percent of respondents said their company has had trouble finding qualified workers to fill skilled positions. And lately the skills gap is getting worse, thanks to historically low unemployment — 4 percent nationwide in June. Now it is not just the skilled workers who are in short supply. It is workers, period. The shortage has some states going to extremes to attract workers. to people willing to move to the state and work remotely in their current job. Indiana has set up a web portal to attract veterans as they leave the military. In North Platte, Nebraska, the local Chamber of Commerce is offering to match employers’ signing bonuses up to $5,000.

If you build it, will they come?

In Wisconsin the situation is bordering on desperate. Unemployment in May hit a new record low of 2.8 percent. That is among the lowest rates in the nation, and it comes before hiring begins at the giant . The Taiwanese manufacturer has promised to hire as many as 13,000 people to build giant video displays in exchange for $4.5 billion in state and local incentives. But it is not entirely clear where it will find those workers.

Terry Gou, chairman of Foxconn Technology Group, at an event in Racine, Wisconsin, on Nov. 10, 2017. In exchange for $4.5 billion in state and local tax incentives, the electronics giant is building a massive manufacturing campus in Mt. Pleasant, Wisconsin. Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images

“Foxconn is currently developing recruitment plans for our Wisconsin operations in close consultation with relevant government agencies and stakeholders,” the company told CNBC in a statement. The company would not say whether the worker shortage is affecting plans for the $10 billion project. “We will announce plans and related timelines in accordance with different phases of project development,” the statement said. Foxconn also said it believes it will be able to attract workers to Wisconsin with competitive wages and benefits, as well as the lure of working in a cutting-edge facility. “Foxconn offers competitive remuneration packages for employees at all levels and provides a positive working environment to attract, develop and retain the best talent — from right here in Wisconsin, the Midwest, and all across America,” the company said. For its part, the state has taken the position that workers will be naturally drawn not only to the facility but to the tech community it hopes to develop around it, which the state has dubbed Wisconn Valley. But officials are not leaving the issue to chance.

Foxconn CEO Terry Gou and former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker talk before the groundbreaking of the 1,000-acre Foxconn Technology Group liquid-crystal display panel factory on June 28, 2018, in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin. Under the deal negotiated by Walker, Foxconn said it would build a $10 billion manufacturing complex that President Donald Trump called "the eighth wonder of the world." Andy Manis | Getty Images

“As companies continue to grow, we want to make sure they have the people that they need in order to be successful,” said Tricia Braun, chief operating officer of Wisconsin Economic Development, the state’s business development arm. “So when we are talking now about a 2.8 percent unemployment, we have to really think about where we can get more workers from.” The agency is looking to all corners of the state, including rural areas in Northern Wisconsin, where unemployment is higher. And it is targeting all walks of life. “We’re really trying to eliminate that skills gap. Investments in our K–12 schools, to technical colleges, to even putting training facilities into our correctional institutions,” she said. Gov. Scott Walker has pointed to increased funding of education, though the state lags much of the nation in that regard. Wisconsin ranks 21st in the nation in per-pupil spending in public schools, according to statistics compiled by the National Education Association.

Crossing state lines