Help wanted: Triangle jobs board posts show rebound in openings

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Job openings in the Triangle are again on the rise after advertisements for open jobs dropped at the end of 2022, according to the latest data from the WRAL TechWire Jobs Report.

And a new report from the North Carolina Technology Association, NC TECH, found that tech hiring slowed across the state in December 2022.

According to the report, the number of job openings falling to below 32,000 for only the second time in the last 13 months.

“2022 ended with another slight decline in IT Job Postings across North Carolina,” said Andrea Fleming, director of talent and workforce development at NC TECH in a statement.

Further, layoffs in the tech sector are sweeping across North Carolina and across the country in 2023, as WRAL TechWire reported last week.

“While concerning, this is not a surprise. Many big names have announced layoffs and often fourth quarter is slower than other times during the year,” said Fleming.

Tech employment in NC is still growing despite economic challenges, report finds

But there is a silver lining: Overall, job postings are again increasing, with the WRAL TechWire Jobs Report showing 308,429 total advertisements for open jobs in the Triangle across 20 local job board searches.

On the downside, however, that number is lower than a year ago, and dramatically lower than the peak observed in early October, when there were nearly 370,000 job openings.

The latest on the Triangle labor market

Compared to a week ago, the total number of job openings jumped up by 6,303 advertisements, gaining back another 2% after dropping below 300,000 job advertisements for open positions.

The most recent increase in job ads came as 13 of the 20 job board searches found more postings than a week ago.

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 27 jobs report, and the year-over-year totals compare to our Jan. 24, 2022 report. Here’s what’s changed since last week’s WRAL TechWire Jobs Report.

Triangle Startup Jobs Report

In the Triangle's startup economy, job opportunities are again on the rise, following eight weeks of decline.

And despite the month-over-month drop in job advertisements in the startup sector, the region's entrepreneurial economy remains poised for growth, according to multiple investors who told WRAL TechWire earlier this month that they'll continue to invest in startups in 2023.

Who's hiring in the Triangle?

Companies with offices in the Triangle continue to hire, with some looking to hire hundreds of workers.

That's happening even as North Carolina workers continue to be concerned that the layoffs sweeping across the tech sector might begin to hit their companies.

But there's still opportunity for workers in the state, and in the Triangle, as more than 3,400 jobs are posted across 50 of the region's most well-known employers.

According to the latest report, 18 of the companies tracked by the WRAL TechWire Jobs Report are hiring for more positions now than they were a month ago. That includes firms like IBM, which is now hiring for more than two dozen positions that could be based in the area, as well as Thermo Fisher Scientific, which has more than doubled the number of jobs advertised compared to a month ago. Eli Lilly, too, is hiring for more positions than they were a month ago. And gaming companies Red Storm and Insomniac Games are looking to hire workers in the region.

The latest data show that these 50 employers are currently hiring for 3,437 open positions. That's a drop of 1.04% compared to the number of job openings a month ago, and a slight decrease from last week's analysis.