Triangle job postings on the rise again?

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Business leaders are gathering at big events this week in the Triangle to discuss what’s coming in the 2023 economy.

No doubt topics will include jobs and the labor market, the state of economic development and the recruitment of new businesses to North Carolina, and the possibility of a recession.

Those events include Launch 2023 in Raleigh and the 21st Annual Economic Forecast Forum in Durham, as well as the Cary Chamber Economic Forecast.

And attendees will likely find that there’s a lot to talk about as the Triangle’s labor market has cooled in the last two months and the possibility of an economic recession in 2023 still looms.

Workers wanted: 49 of 50 top firms in Triangle are hiring – here they are

What’s happening

In early October, the number of open job postings as tracked by the WRAL TechWire Jobs Report hit an all-time high, with about 368,000 total openings in the region.

But since, there’s been a decrease, as shown in the below chart, with just over 305,000 job openings posted in each of the last two weeks, according to the data set.

Still, even as the total number of job openings has fallen, there are many companies that continue to hire, and a new year starting means that companies may begin to implement new or revised hiring plans.

The latest on the Triangle labor market

There’s more good news, too: Compared to a week ago, the total number of job openings grew.

And, openings increased on 11 of the 20 job board searches that are tracked for the weekly report.

Still, postings are down by nearly 9% compared to a month ago. Yet compared to a year ago, the number of job openings posted has increased by more than 6%, or more than 17,800 openings.

Our weekly WRAL TechWire 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.

Each week, WRAL TechWire tracks the total number of Triangle-area positions posted on major job websites, across 20 different searches. The month-over-month totals are compared to our December 6 jobs report, and the year-to-date totals compare to our Jan. 3 report.

Here’s what’s changed since last week’s WRAL TechWire Jobs Report.

Triangle Startup Jobs Report

The job market may be changing week-by-week, but in the startup ecosystem, there's a clear trendline: a decreasing number of job openings, especially on the LinkedIn platform.

For the sixth consecutive week, the total aggregate number of jobs in the startup economy of the Triangle has fallen. The data show that there are now just 16,804 startup job postings based in the Triangle's entrepreneurial economy, though there may be overlapping postings across the 15 job boards tracked by WRAL TechWire.

Who's hiring in the Triangle?

Of the 50 firms that WRAL TechWire now tracks for the weekly WRAL TechWire Jobs Report, only 16 firms looking for more workers now than a month ago.

Still, firms continue to seek talented workers, despite the total number of openings across these 50 employers has tumbled in recent weeks. The latest data show that these 50 employers are currently hiring for 3,438 open positions. That's a drop of 11% compared to the number of job openings a month ago.