Here's how to find a job you'll love in the Triangle

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – For those looking at securing a job they love in 2023, the Triangle labor market remains buoyed by strong demand for talented workers with thousands of openings according to the most recent analysis conducted for the WRAL TechWire Jobs Report.

Despite a slowdown in the overall number of job openings advertised across the region, there are still hundreds of thousands of jobs – not accounting for duplications.

And employers are seeking to add talented workers, even as the technology sector nationwide sheds workers as layoffs continue to accelerate at tech firms. In the Triangle, that now includes Meta, the parent company of Facebook, which confirmed to WRAL News and WRAL TechWire that the company has added office space at the American Tobacco Campus in Durham with plans to employ some 100 workers at the facility.

Still, technology firms, especially large, publicly-traded companies, may be shedding workers in order to manage expectations about the possible slowing of the sector and of the U.S. economy in 2023 or 2024. Meta announced a round of layoffs last year that cut 11,000 jobs, for example, but continues to hire, including a few roles advertised in the Triangle on job board websites.

TechWire Jobs Report’ new format: Here are this week’s headlines:

Tech workers remain in demand across Triangle despite growing number of layoffs

Are workers looking to make a move?

“We have seen a lot of layoff news at the larger, publicly-traded companies, both in this market and outside of the Raleigh-Durham market,” said Josh Haymond, managing partner at Vaco. “The market is still insulated at this point, but there is still concern at those larger companies.”

And that could mean that workers are taking a peek outside of their current team, and even outside of their current employer, to find a job they’ll love.

“That’s going to create some movement,” said Haymond.

In fact, a recent survey conducted by LinkedIn finds that 61% of workers are thinking about leaving a job in 2023, with a greater share of Gen Z and Millennial workers thinking about making a change.

Report: More than 6 in 10 US workers considering leaving a job this year

What’s happening in Triangle job market

Whether that’s true in the Triangle remains to be seen, however. WRAL TechWire Jobs Report, which is published on Tuesdays, finds that the number of job openings fell in January to the lowest levels in at least 13 months. The total stands at nearly 305,000 job postings, not accounting for duplications in advertisements across multiple job boards.

That’s about the same number of job openings posted in each week of 2023.

Compared to a week ago, the total number of job openings jumped up by 4,964 advertisements, an increase of 1.66%.

Still, the most recent analysis of job posting data shows 11 of the 20 job board searches found fewer postings than a week ago, but the nine job posting searches that show a positive gain outperformed the others, resulting in an increase overall.

And there are also nearly 2.8% more job advertisements, or about 8,200 job postings, than there were a month ago, despite only 8 of the 20 job searches showing an increase. Further good news for job seekers: Triangle-area employers, including 48 of 50 of the region’s top companies, are expecting to hire more workers.