RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – North Carolina’s labor market has seen a volatile summer, particularly for technology jobs, but there are signs that Triangle job openings continue to be added on local, regional, and national job posting websites.  And at least one economist sees no signs that the state’s labor market has slowed, despite a new report that shows that open roles in high-tech positions have decreased in recent months. 

What’s happening: Tech job postings fell in July, including a drop of about 8,000 technology job openings compared to June 2022, according to the latest IT Jobs Trends report from NC TECH.  The report, released on Monday, showed a significant decline from a May 2022 high of 58,929, with 45,682 openings in July 2022. 

And though hiring appeared to slow in July, the latest data gathered by WRAL TechWire on the Triangle’s job market, shows that on seven of the 20 job boards tracked in the weekly WRAL TechWire Jobs Report, there were month-over-month gains.

Andrea Fleming, the director of talent and workforce development at NC TECH, called the July 2022 drop in IT job openings a “typical summer dip in hiring,” and added in a statement that postings were 9% higher than the prior July. 

Still, 13 of 20 jobs boards tracked by WRAL TechWire for the weekly report decreased month-over-month, and job openings fell week-over-week on 14 of those 20 searches.

High-tech job openings in NC plunge in July to lowest number in a year

But North Carolina’s unemployment rate remains low — 3.4% according to the latest data.  That’s ahead of the nation, as unemployment across the United States is now measured at 3.5%. 

And the state’s labor market “shows no signs of slowing down,” said Dr. Michael Walden, a William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor Emeritus at North Carolina State University and a regular contributor to WRAL TechWire, last Friday. 

Here’s what’s happening with job openings in the region. 

Economist: NC labor market ‘shows no signs of slowing down’

Note: WRAL TechWire’s weekly Jobs Report compiles the latest information from the region’s top job boards, offering a breakdown of how many jobs are posted, which companies are hiring, and what positions are most in-demand. Here’s more from WRAL TechWire on the latest changes in the labor markets in our local economy.  Below, we’ve gathered the latest upcoming job fairs, student-centric resources, and a list of Twitter accounts that track local job openings.  Here’s what’s new since the last WRAL TechWire Jobs Report. 

Triangle, NC jobs market remains strong but economists see signs for concern

The latest on Triangle job openings

Each week, WRAL TechWire tracks the total number of Triangle-area positions posted on major job websites, across 20 different searches. 

Here is the latest data, as of 8 AM on Monday, August 22.  We use the shorthand abbreviation “MoM” for month-over-month and “YTD” for year-to-date in our report. 

This week’s report also includes tracking the month-over-month gains as a percentage increase or decrease in the total number of postings measured by WRAL TechWire.

  • Adzuna:
    • Wake County: 49,511 (⇑+5,596 or 12.74% MoM; ⇑+6,980YTD)
      • Raleigh: 39,554 (⇑+23,466 or 11.09% MoM; ⇑+15,610 YTD)
    • Durham County: 13,207 (⇑+873 or 4.26% MoM; ⇑+3,453 YTD)
    • Johnston County: 3,461 (⇑+473 or 32.25% MoM; ⇑+232 YTD)*
  • Dice.com (using the 5-mile radius filter):
    • Raleigh: 18,399 (⇓-93  or -0.50% MoM; ⇑+3,028YTD)
    • Durham: 17,729 (⇓-237 or -1.32% MoM; ⇑+2,494 YTD)
    • Chapel Hill: 17,430 (⇓-200 or 1.13% MoM; ⇑+2,441 YTD)
  • Glassdoor: 41,547 jobs across the Research Triangle Park area (⇑+8 or 0.02% MoM; ⇑+6,699 YTD)
  • Indeed:
    • Raleigh: 22,274 (⇓-1,351 or 5.72% MoM; ⇑+5,866 YTD)
    • Durham: 12,422 (⇓-1,116 or -8.24% MoM; ⇑+2,385 YTD)
    • Chapel Hill: 3,837 (⇓-618 or -13.87% MoM; ⇓-51 YTD)
    • Johnston County: 3,647 (⇑+22 or 0.61% MoM; ⇑+2,670 YTD)
  • LinkedIn (using the “exact location” and “0-miles” filters):
    • Raleigh: 27,037 (⇑+43 or -.16% MoM;⇑+172 YTD)
    • Durham: 12,120 (⇓-405 or -3.23% MoM; ⇓-2,367 YTD)
    • Chapel Hill: 3,002 (⇓-427 or -12.45% MoM; ⇑+572 YTD)
    • Johnston County: 2,037**
  • ZipRecruiter (5-mile filter):
    • Raleigh: 38,336 (⇓-3,041 or -7.35% MoM; ⇑+5,114 YTD)
    • Durham:  17,090 (⇓-1,320 or -7.17% MoM; ⇑+2,232 YTD)
    • Chapel Hill: 952 (⇓-16 or -1.65% MoM; ⇓-2,692 YTD)
    • Johnston County: 400 ( ⇓-1 or -0.26% MoM; ⇑+12 YTD)*

Is Triangle jobs market slowing? Number of openings remains volatile

Methodology

Editor’s Notes: The month-over-month totals are compared to our July 25 report, and the year-to-date totals compare to our Jan. 3 report.  **We’ve also updated the methodology for which we track Johnston County job openings on LinkedIn, twice now, in July and in August, as the platform updated how jobs display.  As such, we are not able to verify whether comparing prior data is a like-to-like comparison, so we’ve elected to omit that comparison from this report.  *And, the year-to-date data for Johnston County tracks from Jan. 31, 2022, when we began to track job postings in the county for the WRAL TechWire Jobs Report.  

 

Weekly Startup Jobs Report

Aside from the boards above, job seekers can also find local startup positions at these sites:

  • SimplyHired (192 startup jobs near Research Triangle Park, ⇓-11 or -5.42% MoM; ⇓-43YTD)
  • LinkedIn (8,930 job openings that include “startup” in the Triangle region, ⇑+117 or 1.33% MoM; ⇑+863 YTD),
  • Indeed (252 startup jobs in/near RTP, ⇓-10 or -3.82% MoM; ⇓-71 YTD)
  • AngelList (50 job openings in Raleigh, 14 in Durham and 101 total across North Carolina)
  • Durham-based job site InHerSight also lists jobs at local startups among other job postings (140 this week this week within 25 miles of Raleigh, down 19 postings, or 11.95% from last month.

Here’s a look at local and regional job sites, listed in alphabetical order, below.

AMA Triangle

AMA Triangle, the fifth-largest chapter in American Marketing Association’s nationwide network, aims to be a go-to resource for all things marketing in the Triangle. The organization provides professional training, free career webinars and a job board offering free resume placement for marketing professionals.

As of Monday, the AMA Triangle job board shows 127roles close to Raleigh (down from 133 last week) and another 94 roles, some of which overlap, close to Durham (up from 92 last week).

American Underground

Durham-based startup hub American Underground (Editor’s Note: American Underground is owned by Capitol Broadcasting Company, the parent company of WRAL TechWire) regularly posts job openings on its job board. Job seekers can filter their search by company, location and job function. As of Monday, the site shows 168 jobs at 55 companies.

Bio Jobs Hub

Last year, WRAL TechWire and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center launched a Bio Jobs Hub platform focused on biopharma manufacturing — one of North Carolina’s largest industries, employing over 26,000 people.

Typical biopharma jobs include process technicians, maintenance and/or instrumentation technicians, quality assurance and quality control associates, process development scientists and process engineers. This industry also offers competitive entry-level salaries, from $42,000 to $60,000. Scientists, skilled laborers and recent graduates can use the Bio Jobs Hub resource to find career and training opportunities in their area. Users can search by location, job category/activity and region.

Many biopharma companies are hiring in the Triangle, including Altis Biosystems in Durham, IDDI in Raleigh, and Ascent Bio-Nano Technologies, Inc. and MedKoo Biosciences in Morrisville.  Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist is hiring a head of biotech and life science ecosystem development, as well.

Leadership Triangle

Leadership Triangle’s job board is full of job opportunities, including from small, mid-size, and large employers. The site lists 1,538 job openings (up from 1,498 job openings the prior week) at 30 companies including Citrix, Google, El Centro Hispano, Nugget, Habitat for Humanity of Durham, Forward Cities, Bland Landscaping, Truist, PNC, Burt’s Bees, and North Carolina Central University.

NCBiotech

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center’s extensive jobs board lists open jobs and internships from local life science companies and research organizations. The organization recently updated the user interface with a fresh design. Job seekers can filter their search results by position title, job function and location. NCBiotech also touts jobs through its Bio Jobs Hub program.

The site lists 174 job openings as of Monday, down from 179 last week, 183 openings the prior week and down from 229 listings three weeks ago, despite strong signs that life science hiring continues to increase nationally and in the Triangle.  (Editor’s Note: This list does not include openings posted by recruiting/staffing firms.)

NC TECH

The North Carolina Technology Association (NC TECH) has an interactive job board that you can use to find your next career opportunity. Users can search by keyword, location, category, type (full-time or part-time) and experience level.

Raleigh Founded

Raleigh Founded, a startup incubator and coworking space that is celebrating its 10th anniversary soon, has its own job board.  Job seekers can filter results by company, company size, industry and job function.  The site currently lists 54 positions as of Monday afternoon, down from 55 in last week’s report.

Triangle Region Job Board

Leadership Triangle, Raleigh Founded and American Underground teamed up to create the Triangle Region Job Board, which synthesizes all of the openings posted on the organizations’ job boards.

As of Monday, the site shows 3,057 job openings.  That’s up three openings from last week. 

Work in the Triangle

Work in the Triangle, a Wake County Economic Development program, regularly shares new openings through its Twitter feed, @WorkTriangleNC. The program launched a job board on its website earlier this year, with 9,069 job openings on Monday.  That’s up by 0.53% from a month ago, when there were 9,021 openings on the website. Still, of the current job openings, 7,310 are technology jobs, 1,035 are advanced manufacturing positions, 302 are in cleantech and 422 are in life sciences roles.

Every Tuesday, Work in the Triangle’s #TriangleTuesdays hashtag lists hot jobs in the area.  Scroll through the #TriangleTuesdays hashtag on Twitter today for more details on the latest openings.

Big firms – Amazon to Wolfspeed – continue to hire in Triangle: Here’s where jobs are

Triangle job openings at notable firms

Job openings abound at the Triangle’s leading technology employers. Here’s how many are available as of Monday morning, with any significant week-over-week changes noted: https://wraltechwire.com/2022/08/23/big-firms-amazon-to-wolfspeed-continue-to-hire-in-triangle-heres-were-jobs-are/

Upcoming Job Fairs/Career Events

Here’s our latest roundup of upcoming job fairs and other resources to help people looking for employment.

  • NC State Engineering Career Fair: Sept. 20–21 (in-person and virtual) In this hybrid career fair, NC State engineering students can meet with employers seeking talent across a range of industries. This is a two-day event: The first day will be held in person, while the second will take place virtually via Career Fair Plus. More details here.
  • NC TECH Virtual Jobs Fair: Oct. 5 (online). The NC TECH Job Expo is primarily focused on candidates seeking tech-related jobs/careers and internships. Whether actively seeking a job or interested in learning more about the participating employers.

NC TECH Virtual Job Expo

Other resources to find Triangle jobs

If you’re a student looking for an internship or entry-level position at a local company or organization, your university has resources to help you get started. Quick links below:

For Johnston County job seekers: The recently launched JoCo Careers website helps job seekers find companies hiring in Johnston County. (More TechWire coverage here.)

Johnston County launches new jobs platform to connect workers to local jobs

Twitter Accounts to Follow for Triangle Job Openings

Here are some locally run Twitter accounts that regularly share job openings in the Triangle:

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