DURHAM – The Durham-Chapel Hill metropolitan statistical area is the third-fastest growing region in the country when it comes to the number of job postings, according to a new report from Indeed.

The region, which includes Durham, Orange, Chatham, Granville, and Person Counties, has seen a 14.6% change in job postings compared to four weeks earlier, and job postings are up 90.7% since February 2020.

Raleigh-Cary has seen an increase of 56.3% and ranked 78th among the 110 metropolitan statistical areas studied in the analysis, a spokesperson for Indeed confirmed to WRAL TechWire this week.

Still, WRAL TechWire’s weekly jobs report shows that companies in the Triangle continue to post open roles and plan to step up hiring.

Where job postings have grown the fastest

Durham-Chapel Hill was only outpaced by Boise City, Idaho, and Spokane-Spokane Valley, VA, which ranked first and second for the growth in job postings since February 1, 2020.  The report excludes all Colorado metropolitan statistical areas and only considers regions with more than 500,000 in total population.

Within this ranking system, the Greensboro-High Point metropolitan statistical area ranks eighth, with a 79.5% change in job postings since February 2020.

Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia has seen a 73.8% increase in job postings, which ranked the region 19th overall, an Indeed spokesperson told WRAL TechWire.

“COVID-19 makes it difficult for employers to anticipate consumer demand, which makes it hard to determine how many workers are needed,” said AnnElizabeth Konkel, an economist with Indeed, in responding to questions from WRAL TechWire.  “A restaurant is a good example of this. How many customers there throughout the week determines how many waiters to hire. COVID-19 surges change consumer behavior such as how often to dine out, if at all. This uncertainty from COVID-19 can slow employer demand for workers.”

Workers still in high demand

Nationally, the number of new job postings, as of January 7, 2022, is up 74.7% compared to the February 1, 2020 baseline, and the total number of job postings on the company’s platform is up 61.9% in that same time, according to Indeed.

According to the report, “The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 10.6 million job openings at the end of November in its latest JOLTS report.”

Indeed said in its analysis that job postings on the company’s job platform increased 2.8% between November 30 and January 7.

Triangle companies step up hiring plans despite weather, COVID

“If JOLTS openings have grown since November 30 at the same rate as Indeed job postings, that implies 10.9 million job openings as of January 7,” the report states.

Some occupations more in demand than others

But some job roles are more in demand than others, Indeed found.  Roles in human resources have seen a 128.2% change above February 2020 baseline, for example, and software development roles are up 115.6%.  Both production and manufacturing roles and logistics support roles have seen an increase above 100%, as well, with growth of 106.1% in production and manufacturing, and a growth of 108.7% in logistic support.

Meanwhile, job postings in the beauty and wellness industry are up only 1.5%.  In the sports industry, job postings are up 31.1%, and in hospitality and tourism roles, job postings are up 32.7%.

Across the state of North Carolina, the most recent NC TECH IT Job Trends report found that the number of IT job openings fell from a record high of 46,823 in November 2021 to 45,155 last month.

Metros with fastest growth in job postings (Indeed image).

Indeed’s data shows that the Durham-Chapel Hill MSA has seen the highest percentage change within the last four weeks of any of the top ten markets for overall job posting growth since February 2020.

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