RALEIGH – Though there’s been some slowing in the labor market, including job cuts, hiring freezes, and layoffs sweeping across the technology sector, 48 of the 50 firms tracked by WRAL TechWire for the weekly WRAL TechWire Jobs Report remain in hiring mode this week.
And some Triangle employers are 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. Those layoffs are coming as technology firms, especially large ones, hired rapidly during the prior three years.
That led to many companies adding too many workers, too fast, said Dr. Michael Walden, an economist and a William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor and Extension Economist at North Carolina State University, in an interview with WRAL TechWire.
“There are indications the job market, both in North Carolina and the nation, is slowing,” said Walden. “The most recent monthly labor market report for North Carolina showed a decline in the number of households with a job.”
What’s happening
Still, there are many opportunities for workers across the state and in the Triangle. Nearly 3,300 jobs are posted across 50 of the region’s most well-known employers.
Eighteen 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 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 last month, and will be adding more jobs to the region after announcing another expansion in the Triangle earlier this month.
The latest data show that these 50 employers are currently hiring for 3,286 open positions. We should note: that’s a drop of nearly 5% compared to one month ago.
