Triangle still showing strong job growth

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – For the first time in 2022, North Carolina’s unemployment rate was higher than the nation’s. But is this a sign of rocky times ahead for North Carolina’s workers?

Not really, said Dr. Gerald Cohen, the chief economist at the Kenan Institute.

“I don’t read much into the higher unemployment rate – especially since their was strong job growth in the payroll report,” said Cohen in an interview with WRAL TechWire.

Unemployment in North Carolina rose to 3.6% last month while the U.S. rate hit 3.5%.

Last week’s WRAL TechWire Jobs Report indicated that the Triangle region’s labor market was getting – and perhaps receiving – mixed signals from the state and national economy.

That’s even as a report issued earlier this month found that the Triangle would be well-insulated from recessionary environments, if the United States were to fall into a recession.

“It will be more difficult for firms in the Triangle to decide on a job strategy because they are faced by two factors pulling in opposite directions,” said Dr. Michael Walden, a Reynolds Distinguished Professor Emeritus at North Carolina State University and a regular contributor to WRAL TechWire. “Many national indicators of a slowing economy, but knowledge that the Triangle is still a coveted region for economic growth,” Walden described.

40 top Triangle companies keep hiring – here’s why and where 4,000 jobs are

What’s happening with the Triangle jobs market?

The latest analysis shows that the number of job openings decreased from last week on 13 of the 20 job board searches tracked by WRAL TechWire, with the aggregate total falling by more than 19,500 job openings, or about 5.4% from last week.

Compared to a month ago, there are even fewer postings, with a drop of about 5.8% in the aggregate. That’s as 90% of the job searches tracked by WRAL TechWire show decreases in the number of job openings from a month ago, with only two searches pertaining to jobs in Johnston County that show modest increases in the number of jobs.

And workers are growing increasingly worried about losing their jobs if a recession – as is now widely expected – hits the U.S. economy and the Triangle.

However, there might not be cause for concern, at least, not yet, said Cohen.

“The latest jobless claims for the week ending October 15 indicated that claims declined on both a seasonally and non-seasonally adjusted basis and the recent trend is downwards,” Cohen noted. “This suggests a continued strength in the labor market.”

Further, many notable companies in the Triangle have increased the number of job openings in the past week, including Google, Toshiba Global Commerce, and Novo Nordisk. And, these 40 employers are looking to add more than 4,000 total workers in the region.

“Firms want to prepare for an economic pullback, but they also don’t want to miss economic opportunities in the region,” said Walden. “So the “go, or slow” decision is tougher here, and I will not be surprised if we have some future months where “go” wins and others where “slow” is chosen.” And even if inflation subsides due to the Federal Reserve raising interest rates, the economy may still face many challenges, Walden wrote last week.

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.

The data on Triangle jobs

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 Monday afternoon. 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: 56,754 (⇓-4,619 or -7.53% MoM; ⇑+14,233 YTD)
  - Raleigh: 45,857 (⇓-1,849 or -3.88% MoM; ⇑+21,913 YTD)
- Durham County: 16,587 (⇓-2,464 or -12.93% MoM; ⇑+6,833 YTD)
- Johnston County: 3,699 (⇓-433 or -10.48% MoM; ⇑+470 YTD)*
Dice.com (using the 5-mile radius filter):
- Raleigh: 16,857 (⇓-497 or -2.86% MoM; ⇑+1,486 YTD)
- Durham: 16,202 (⇓-452 or -2.71% MoM; ⇑+1,022 YTD)
- Chapel Hill: 15,967 (⇓-454 or -2.76% MoM; ⇑+978 YTD)
Glassdoor: 39,636 jobs across the Research Triangle Park area (⇓-448 or -1.12% MoM; ⇑+4,788 YTD)
Indeed:
- Raleigh: 21,395 (⇓-589 or -2.68% MoM; ⇑+4,987 YTD)
- Durham: 11,258 (⇓-1,278 or -10.19% MoM; ⇑+1,221 YTD)
- Chapel Hill: 3,278 (⇓-245 or -6.95% MoM; ⇓-610 YTD)
- Johnston County: 3,611 (⇑+40 or 1.12% MoM; ⇑+2,634 YTD)
LinkedIn (using the “exact location” and "0-miles" filters):
- Raleigh: 25,844 (⇓-845 or -3.17% MoM; ⇓-1,021 YTD)
- Durham: 11,322 (⇓-934 or -7.62% MoM; ⇓-3,165 YTD)
- Chapel Hill: 2,516 (⇓-887 or -26.07% MoM; ⇑+86 YTD)
- Johnston County: 2,369 (⇑+520 or 28.12% MoM; ⇑+823 YTD)
ZipRecruiter (5-mile filter):
- Raleigh: 34,921 (⇓-2,887 or -7.61% MoM; ⇑+1,699 YTD)
- Durham: 13,501 (⇓-2,828 or -17.32% MoM; ⇓-1,357 YTD)
- Chapel Hill: 872 (⇓-32 and 3.54% MoM; ⇓-2,772 YTD)
- Johnston County: 395 (⇓-18 or -4.36% MoM; ⇑+16 YTD)*

High-tech job openings in NC jump to 37,000+ – 3rd highest on record

Methodology on measuring Triangle job market

Editor's Notes: The month-over-month totals are compared to our August 30 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, and in today's report return to month-over-month comparisons. *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.

Layoff Watch: Job cuts top 44,000 in tech sector, 90,000 among startups

Weekly Startup Jobs Report

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

SimplyHired (167 startup jobs near Research Triangle Park, up five openings from last month)
LinkedIn (9,340 job openings that include "startup" in the Triangle region, down 791 jobs from a month ago)
Indeed (214 startup jobs in/near RTP, down nine roles from last month)
AngelList (21 job openings in Raleigh, 4 in Durham and 54 total across North Carolina, down 28, nine, and 37 job openings from a week ago, respectively)
Durham-based job site InHerSight also lists jobs at local startups among other job postings (144 job openings this week)

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 104 roles close to Raleigh (up 10 roles from a month ago), and another 62 roles, some of which overlap, close to Durham (down 24 roles open 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 143 jobs, same as last week, but down 33 from a month ago.

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.

Leadership Triangle

Leadership Triangle's job board is full of job opportunities, including from small, mid-size, and large employers. The site lists 1,477 job openings at 30 companies (down 151 jobs from a month ago).

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 180 job openings as of Monday, the same as a week ago but down 18 roles from a month ago. (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. NC TECH released the September IT Jobs Report last week, which found more than 37,000 openings, the third most in any month of the last 13 months.

Raleigh Founded

Raleigh Founded, a startup incubator and coworking space that celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, has its own job board. Job seekers can filter results by company, company size, industry and job function. The site currently lists 65 positions as of Monday.

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 2,776 job openings. That's down from 2,985 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 6,271 active job listings as of Monday afternoon.

Last week, there were 7,049 job openings on Monday. That's a large increase from a week ago, when there were 5,823 jobs posted, with almost all of the increase coming from technology job openings.

Of the current job openings, 5,368 are technology jobs (up from 4,609 openings a week ago), 931 are advanced manufacturing positions (up from 921 openings a week ago), 336 are in cleantech (up from 334 open roles last week) and 413 are in life sciences roles (up from 406openings from last week).

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.

Where are the jobs in the Triangle?

Amazon: 65 job openings in the Triangle (down 12 openings a week ago), though some roles can be done remotely, according to the company's career page. Amazon is closing multiple North Carolina facilities, though a company spokesperson told WRAL TechWire that Amazon is not laying off any workers. Workers at an Amazon facility in Garner continue efforts to unionize including speaking with other Amazon workers in the state. The company is also hiring for more than 1,000 roles in North Carolina
Apple (corporate roles): 59 job openings in the Triangle, according to the company's career page, down one role from a week ago. The company announced the iPhone 14 and other products at an event produced earlier this year.
Bandwidth: 26 job openings in Raleigh, according to the company's career page. The company will require its employees to work in-person five days per week, WRAL TechWire reported this month.
BASF: 30 job openings in the Triangle, according to the company's career page
BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina: 44 job openings in the Triangle, according to the company's career page
BD: 15 job openings in the Triangle, according to the company's career page
Cisco: 200 job openings in Research Triangle Park, according to the company's career page
Citrix: 20 job openings in Raleigh, according to the company's career page
Credit Suisse: 56 job openings in the Triangle, according to the company's career page. Stock prices plunged in early October and the company is required to pay a big $234 million fine. The company has 60 fewer job openings than a month ago.
Duke Energy: 10 job openings in the Triangle, according to the company's career page, the same as last week.
Eaton: 76 job openings in Raleigh, according to the company's career page. Earlier this year, the company announced plans to hire about 170 workers who will be based in the company's revamped Raleigh office. There are 10 more openings this week compared to last.
Eli Lilly: 38 job openings in Research Triangle Park, according to the company's career page
Fidelity Investments: 572 job openings in Durham, according to the company's career page, down from 581 openings a week ago
FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies: 40 job openings in the Triangle, according to the company's career page, down 17 job postings from a month ago
Google: 255 job openings in Durham, according to the company's career page. The company is making cuts in some areas of the company but is expected to continue to hire for the Durham engineering hub, WRAL TechWire reported earlier this year. The company is hiring for 55 more positions than it was a month ago.
Grifols: 107 job openings in North Carolina, including in Durham and Clayton, according to the company's career page, down 14 roles from a month ago
GlaxoSmithKline: 113 job openings in Durham, according to the company's career page
IBM: 4 job opening in RTP, according to the company's career page. There's been no change in recent weeks, though the company said it would continue to hire in August.
IQVIA: 359 job openings in RTP, according to the company's career page (down 10 jobs from a week ago and down 61 openings compared to a month ago)
Kyndryl: 79 job openings in RTP, according to the company's career page
Labcorp: 278 job openings in Burlington, N.C., according to the company's career page, an increase of 18 postings from a month ago
Lenovo: 248 job openings in Morrisville, according to the company's career page, down 59 postings from a month ago.
MetLife: 121 job openings in Cary, according to the company's career page, down 6 openings from a week ago. MetLife told WRAL TechWire recently that it planned to hire 400 workers by New Year's Day and will host an employer informational session through NC TECH today.
Merck: 13 job openings in the Triangle, according to the company's career page
Microsoft: 12 job openings in Raleigh, according to the company's career page. The company confirmed last week it planned to make job cuts, with some 1,000 workers affected.
NetApp: 102 job openings in the Triangle, according to the company's career page
Novo Nordisk: 206 jobs in the Triangle, according to the company's career page. And even more jobs could be coming to the Novo Nordisk location in Johnston County, WRAL TechWire reported earlier this month. (Some prior weekly reports underreported the total number of available company jobs in the Triangle, due to an error from WRAL TechWire.)
Novartis: 5 job openings in the Triangle, according to the company's career page. The company is closing a Wilson plant.
Pendo: 10 job openings in Raleigh, according to the company's career page. The technology unicorn did announce there would be Pendo layoffs earlier this year totaling less than 5% of the company's workforce, and less than two dozen employees in Raleigh affected.
Pfizer: 100 job openings in North Carolina, according to the company's career page
Red Hat: 22 job openings in Raleigh, according to the company's career page. Red Hat is owned by IBM and recently had a leadership change.
RTI International: 128 job openings in Durham, according to the company's career page, up 12 openings from last week
SAS: 127 job openings in Cary, according to the company's career page, down 24 openings from last month. Some of the available roles are remote-based positions.
Science 37: 2 job openings that could be based in Raleigh, though some other roles are remote positions
Sensus (Xylem): 46 job openings in the Triangle, according to the company's career page
Spectrum: 39 job openings in the Triangle, according to the company's career page
Syneos Health: 6 job openings in Raleigh, according to the company's career page
Toshiba Global Commerce: 105 openings in Durham, according to the company's career page, up 41 roles from a month ago.
Wolfspeed: 240 job openings in Durham, according to the company's career page. The company announced a $5 billion investment that is expected to bring some 1,800 jobs to the region, as reported earlier this year by WRAL TechWire.
Worldwide Clinical Trials: 63 job openings in North Carolina, according to the company's careers page

Upcoming hiring events

2022 Virtual Fall Graduate, Law & Professional School Fair: Nov. 2 (Virtual). The 2022 Virtual Fall Graduate, Law & Professional School Fair (hosted by NC State, UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Wilmington and Wake Forest University) is an opportunity for students to network with graduate and professional school admissions representatives. There will be an opportunity for one-on-one chats with representatives, group information sessions, or a combination of the two, as selected by each program.
2022 NC Master's & Doctoral Virtual Career Fair: Nov. 3 (Virtual). Graduate and professional students and post-docs in humanities/social sciences and STEM fields are cordially invited to participate in this virtual event put on by six North Carolina institutions (Duke, NC State, UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Charlotte, UNC Greensboro, and Wake Forest University).
Carolina Startup Connect: Nov. 9 (Carolina Union). This isn’t your average college career fair. It’s designed specifically for startup companies to meet with entrepreneurial-minded students from UNC-Chapel Hill and Carolina Central Community College who have high-demand skills and a passion for working at startups.