Americans have gradually returned to the workforce as the threat from the COVID-19 pandemic has waned, a trend that has accelerated in recent months and sharply expanded the pool of job applicants.

Though still below pre-pandemic levels, the national labor force participation rate reached 62.8% in September.

And unemployment rates are lower than they were at the height of the pandemic, remaining between 3.4 and 3.8% so far this year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Still, struggles remain.

The Great Shift?As job openings, quits taper off, power shifts from workers to employers

Where employers are struggling to hire the most

WalletHub, a personal finance company, analyzed job openings from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to determine which states are struggling to hire employees the most. The data analyzed includes job opening rates in August and the 12 months before that.

With a job opening rate of 10.6% last month, Alaska ranked as the top state in the country struggling to hire. The top 10 states struggling the most are:

1. Alaska
2. West Virginia
3. South Carolina
4. Georgia
5. New Mexico
6. Louisiana
7. Montana
8. Mississippi
9. Colorado
10. North Carolina

At of the end of August, job opening rates increased in 13 states and decreased in two states, New Hampshire and New Jersey. Nationwide, the job openings rate increased, according to the bureau.

See charts:American workers are feeling confident in today's job market

Workers feel more confident in the current job market

Workers are confident in their ability to get a pay raise, according to data from Morning Consult, a nonpartisan survey research company. A rising share of workers say their employer would increase their salary if asked. Those positive feelings of worker leverage are especially high among union members, the research company found.

Job search activity is on the rise this year, according to the company.

"This can be generally viewed as a sign of labor market strength, as job switchers are rewarded with higher pay in a tight labor market," according to the report.

Paul Davidson contributed to this reporting