Good news, job seekers: Job ads again rising

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Job openings in the Triangle are again on the rise, the latest data from the WRAL TechWire Jobs Report shows.

After falling to the lowest aggregate total of job openings in at least six months last week, the number of job openings increased in the region last week.

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 steep drop in openings in the prior three months.

Last week, there were fewer than 300,000 job advertisements across the 20 job board searches tracked in the weekly report. The number of advertisements has climbed, however, with 302,126 job postings tracked in the latest WRAL TechWire Jobs Report.

Still, the U.S. economy continues to add workers, with the most recent Labor Department data showing that 223,000 jobs were added to the economy in December 2022.

And it is expected that hiring continued in North Carolina, as well, with labor market data scheduled for release later this month.

Further, data also showed that there are still 1.7 job openings for every unemployed worker, according to the New York Times. That means that workers are still very much in demand, nationally, and in North Carolina.

The latest on the Triangle labor market

Compared to a week ago, the total number of job openings jumped up by 5,725 advertisements, gaining back nearly 2% after dropping last week by 3.26%, nearly 10,000 advertisements for open positions.

That came as 12 of the 20 job board searches found more advertisements 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 20 jobs report, and the year-over-year totals compare to our Jan. 17, 2022 report. Here’s what’s changed since last week’s WRAL TechWire Jobs Report.

Triangle Startup Jobs Report

Despite the number of jobs in the Triangle's labor market increasing in the past week, job advertisements in the startup economy fell again.

That's the eighth consecutive week where openings in the startup economy have decreased.

But that doesn't mean that the region's startups are in bad shape, as multiple investors who are active in the local economy remain positive about the startup economy and say they have plans to continue to invest in startups in 2023.

With new funding, startups may ramp up their headcount to spur growth.

Still, the data show that there are now just 16,078 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.

That's down by 5.5%, or nearly 1,000 job openings, from a month ago.

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.

And 22 of the companies tracked by the WRAL TechWire Jobs Report are hiring for more positions now than they were a month ago, the latest data show.

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. Pfizer, too, has boosted job postings on its website in an effort to fill 27 job openings. But it also includes gaming companies, with Red Storm and Insomniac Games now set to hire workers in the region.

The latest data show that these 50 employers are currently hiring for 3,539 open positions.

That's a drop of 2.56% compared to the number of job openings a month ago, but a slight increase from last week's report.

"Rather than feeling concerned, we feel optimistic that this current climate will give individuals a unique opportunity to expand their skillsets and force companies to look at new ways to curate talent," said Homes.

Overall, job advertisements are again on the rise, after falling last week to below 300,000 aggregate openings across the 20 job boards tracked by WRAL TechWire for the weekly report.