Job seekers have to look harder in Triangle; openings drop for 5th straight week

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK — The latest edition of the WRAL TechWire Jobs Report shows a fifth consecutive drop in the total number of local job listings—to the lowest total number of postings for 2023 and a 23% drop from this time last year.

This recent data reflects trends in the US labor market.

According to the jobs report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday, the US job market is cooling off, with employers adding just 236,000 jobs in March, falling below economists’ expectations of 239,000 jobs and marking the lowest number since December.

The Federal Reserve’s yearlong rate-hiking campaign to chill inflation may be a factor in this slowdown.

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“So rising interest rates have taken a toll but as I mentioned the timing of this report means we may not be seeing the full extent of the employment, of the challenges in the financial sector,” said Gerald Cohen, chief economist at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise.

Cohen shared these remarks at the Institute’s monthly virtual press briefing Friday morning, addressing just-released job report numbers.

As the tech industry and other sectors continue to navigate the changing labor market dynamics, how these developments will impact hiring and wage growth in the coming months remains to be seen.

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But Cohen echoed the Institute’s prediction from last month: the economy is heading toward a recession.

“We just believe that we’re going to have a fairly mild recession, but we are headed for a recession,” said Cohen.

Here’s a look at Triangle numbers from the latest edition of the WRAL TechWire Jobs Report:

The numbers do not account for duplications in postings.

The Triangle area still has plenty of job opportunities, with data tracked for TechWire’s exclusive jobs report showing that 49 out of 50 of the top local companies are hiring for more than 2,300 job openings collectively, and posts for startup jobs in the Triangle showed a slight uptick this week.