DURHAM – Even as reports have surfaced that Facebook’s parent company, Meta, may soon cut additional jobs, the company is growing in the Triangle. That means another jewel in the crown of the Triangle as a growing destination for the world’s tech powerhouses.
A spokesperson for Meta confirmed this week that the company is occupying office space in Durham and intends to staff the office with as many as 100 engineers.
And the impact of Meta’s presence in Durham is “encouraging” for the region, according to Chris Chung, CEO of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, EDPNC.
“We see Meta’s decision as further validation of the ever-deepening talent pool and attractive business climate that characterize the Triangle region and North Carolina as a whole, and Meta’s new location is yet another strong proof point as we continue marketing North Carolina to other companies in the tech sector,” Chung told WRAL TechWire.
Meta joins Apple, Google, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, NetApp, Lenovo, Oracle and other big tech players with Triangle operations. Not to be overlooked are life science firms such as Labcorp and IQVIA headquartered in the region and the dozens of other major life science companies that have opened Triangle operations that employ thousands of people focused on the latest trends. Add to all that growth the fact that Fidelity, MetLife, Deutsche Bank and others all operate technology campuses in the region. Plus, there’s home-grown Red Hat, SAS, Epic Games, Bandwidth, Pendo, Wolfspeed and others that have made the region a recruiting beacon for companies and talent. Even Amazon has a growing presence (though not the Amazon HQ2 that was touted five years ago) in warehousing and support operations. Vietnamese electric vehicle manufacturer VinFast is investing in the region, too.
Talent, and in particular, talent equipped with technology skills, remains a top consideration for employers, whether they’re operating in the technology sector, like Meta and Google parent company Alphabet, or outside of the technology sector.
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And demand for workers continues in the Triangle and across the region, even as the state is adding population, the most recent NC TECH State of the Technology Industry Report found.
“Demand for tech skills remains healthy – even in tech companies – that may be shedding jobs,” said Dr. Gerald Cohen, chief economist at the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise. “It also raises the question about what jobs are being shed – I’ve heard anecdotally that the tech companies are being selective about their layoffs – based on business function and performance metrics.”
In fact, reports have surfaced this week that Meta may soon cut additional jobs. Earlier this month, Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg called 2023 the “year of efficiency” in an investor earnings call.
“We’re focused on becoming a stronger and more nimble organization,” Zuckerberg said on the call.
But Cohen notes that two things can be true at the same time, that the company could be expanding its presence in the Triangle by securing office space with plans to hire, and that it could simultaneously be looking to drive greater efficiency.
“The Meta announcement supports that,” Cohen noted.
The company announced 11,000 job cuts in 2022.
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Questions about Meta’s impact on the Triangle remain
Still, there are many questions about the impact that Meta will have on the region.
For example, said Dr. Anne York, an economist and program director at Meredith College, “We should track how many of the workers in their new office will be hired from the local labor market of those of us who already live here versus how many are hired to relocate here.”
Should open positions be filled locally, that could “dampen the impact on housing prices and traffic congestion,” said York. “But if our local labor market isn’t large enough to fill these openings and they are relying mostly on relocating workers, this new pool of workers will put a greater increase on the demand for housing, and we’ll have far more traffic.”
Still, many are welcoming Meta to the region, including the president and CEO of the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce, Geoff Durham.
“Our growing tech cluster is tapping into diverse talent to help create tools for people, businesses and organizations, and adding this global tech leader bolsters their presence in North Carolina and our unique ecosystem,” said Durham. “Duke University, North Carolina Central University, Durham Technical Community College, the North Carolina Technology Association and other local institutions are prepared to help Meta thrive here.”
Meta’s arrival could signal return to office
The company’s decision to open an office in the region is an encouraging sign for the region’s commercial office space market, too, said Chung.
That’s because new office projects have been far fewer in the last three years than industrial projects coming into the region and the state, including in the clean energy, semiconductor and electric vehicle sectors, Chung noted.
“It is also encouraging to see new-to-market office activity,” said Chung.
And companies are beginning to notice the Triangle as a source of excellent talent, with infrastructure in place to make opening an office space more viable.
“The Triangle has great tech talent and now we have the last of the big internet companies waking up to it,” said Scot Wingo, the CEO of Spiffy, which announced it had raised $30 million this week.
And it’s probably not just household names like Meta, Google, Microsoft or Amazon, either.
In fact, Dr. Mike Walden, an economist and a William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor Emeritus at North Carolina State University, told WRAL TechWire that “any major tech company likely has the Triangle on its list for new investments.”
That’s because as technology continues to expand, it is understood that technology is “the industry of the future,” according to Walden. “When decision-makers look over the horizon, they see tech expanding and becoming a more important part of our lives. So, if the tech sector is to ultimately expand, what better region to be part of this expansion than the Triangle.”
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But there could be challenges, too
“It is wonderful that the Triangle area is so attractive for employers, but we may be getting to a point in which there aren’t enough applicants from our local labor market,” said York. “If so, this would be a great time for our local citizens to retrain and gain the credentials needed to be hired by our newer employers.”
And growth can also contribute to the displacement of existing area residents, noted John Quinterno, a professor at Duke University.
“Adding the firm to the local business landscape could indeed have many positive impacts ranging from more investment in Durham to the addition of good jobs to the expansion in associated economic activity,” said Quinterno. “And if the jobs added by Meta go primarily to local residents and graduates of local colleges and universities, that would be positive, as well.”
But there is a flip side to the equation.
“Such growth can contribute to displacement and exacerbate livability issues faced by existing residents, especially if many of the associated jobs go to people transferring into the region,” Quinterno said. “While the number of jobs associated with this announcement is relatively manageable and modest, the project does need to be viewed in light of all of the other projects occurring in the city. The response needs to be systematic so as to maximize the benefits and minimize the costs of economic growth.”
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