Are Triangle, national jobs market really softening? Economists disagree

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – There are tens of thousands of open jobs in the Triangle, the latest WRAL TechWire Jobs Report finds.  But with ongoing economic concerns and a changing economy, whether there are cracks emerging in the region’s labor market is a matter of debate.

Economist Dr. Michael Walden, a William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor Emeritus at North Carolina State University, sees some cracks. He spoke with WRAL TechWire on Monday about the latest in the regional and national labor market. 

With the September jobs report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics coming on Friday, here’s what Walden noted about how people typically hear about the labor economy: from that report alone. 

But there’s more than one data source for the labor market, Walden explained. 

“Most focus on the unemployment rate and job gains reported at businesses,” said Walden.  That’s the number we hear reported on the first Friday of each month.  “But the complementary employment report of households has been much weaker than the report from businesses,” explained Walden, and this is significant, because it could indicate there are cracks in our economy. 

One sign? 

The number of workers who hold multiple jobs has increased recently, said Walden. 

“The household employment report still counts this as one person employed, but the business employment report would now report two jobs,” explained Walden. 

So while the report on the labor market from a business perspective could make the labor market appear more rosy than it actually is, by indicating a new job was created, said Walden, “the household report would show that new job was taken by someone already with a job, and possibly because they are having a hard time keeping up with rising prices.”

Triangle job seekers, take note: 40 companies look to fill nearly 4,300 positions

Still, job gains expected for September

But even with the potential cracks in the labor market, Walden expects to see an increasing number of new jobs created when the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its report on Friday.  

Dr. Gerald Cohen, the chief economist at the Kenan Institute, also expects to see an increase in the overall number of jobs in the economy, though at a slower rate than seen earlier this year. 

But Cohen differs from Walden on one measure.  “I would not say we are seeing a lot of cracks at the moment,” said Cohen.  “High frequency data such as jobless claims have fallen which suggest a strengthening rather than weakening job market.”

That’s not a prediction, Cohen clarified, it’s an analysis of the existing data in the economy. 

“I’ve been following the multiple job numbers and yes they have been picking up, but they are still historically at the low end of their ranges,” said Cohen, referencing the below image shared and reprinted with permission.  “We wonder if the pickup is actually a sign of strength suggesting some normalization of the labor market.”

“We will know more on Friday,” said Cohen.  “Though expectations are for something in the 200,000 range, which is a deceleration but still very strong relative to history and demographics.” 

And though the available data indicates that the labor market is slowing nationally and in the Triangle, Cohen said that there is still healthy employment growth in the Triangle’s labor economy. 

In particular, Cohen noted that job openings are still very high statewide, even if they have fallen from recent record highs observed and recorded earlier this spring.  

 

Jobs board update: Fewer are showing more jobs

Just four of the 20 job site searches tracked by the WRAL TechWire Jobs Report show that the number of openings have grown since last week, and where jobs have been posted, the percentage increase remains slim. 

And there’s a similar trend in the data, month-over-month, as well, with only six of the 20 job board searches tracked in the analysis show more job openings now than on Labor Day.

Further, in the aggregate, the total number of job postings tracked by the report has dropped by 1.75% month-over-month.  Still, where job openings dropped, they did so slightly, with no job search showing more than a 4% decrease in the number of openings month-over-month, whereas all four searches on the Adzuna job board tracked by WRAL TechWire show that job postings increased since a month ago. 

But just because there’s been a recent decline in the number of openings doesn’t mean that companies aren’t still competing for talent in the Triangle or in the state. 

“While there have been reports of hiring freezes or slowdowns at some of the larger tech companies, we are also seeing continued strong demand from employers of all stripes for tech talent,” said Brooks Raiford, President and CEO of the North Carolina Technology Association, NC TECH, which will host a Tech Job Expo this week with more than 1,000 open positions from more than 20 employers. 

Note: WRAL TechWire’s weekly 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. Here’s more from WRAL TechWire on the latest changes in the labor markets in our local economy.  Below, we’ve gathered the latest upcoming job fairs, student-centric resources, and a list of Twitter accounts that track local job openings.  Here’s what’s new since the last WRAL TechWire Jobs Report. 

The data on Triangle jobs

Each week, WRAL TechWire tracks the total number of Triangle-area positions posted on major job websites, across 20 different searches. Here is the latest data.  We use the shorthand abbreviation “MoM” for month-over-month and “YTD” for year-to-date in our report. This week’s report also includes tracking the month-over-month gains as a percentage increase or decrease in the total number of postings measured by WRAL TechWire.

• Adzuna:
  • Wake County: 60,004 (⇑+3,386 or 5.98% MoM; ⇑+17,473 YTD)
    • Raleigh: 46,653 (⇑+995 or 2.18% MoM; ⇑+22,709 YTD)
  • Durham County: 18,325 (⇑+1,507 or 8.96% MoM; ⇑+8,571 YTD)
  • Johnston County: 4,152 (⇑+510 or 14% MoM; ⇑+923YTD)*
• Dice.com (using the 5-mile radius filter):
  • Raleigh: 17,166 (⇓-629  or -3.53% MoM; ⇑+1,795 YTD)
  • Durham: 16,654 (⇓-666 or -3.90% MoM; ⇑+1,219 YTD)
  • Chapel Hill: 16,191 (⇓-583 or -3.48% MoM; ⇑+1,202YTD)
• Glassdoor: 39,906 jobs across the Research Triangle Park area (⇓-1,032% or -2.52% MoM; ⇑+5,058 YTD)
• Indeed:
  • Raleigh: 21,810 (⇓-520 or 2.33% MoM; ⇑+5,402 YTD)
  • Durham: 12,363 (⇓-459 or 3.58% MoM; ⇑+2,326 YTD)
  • Chapel Hill: 3,411 (⇓-31 or -0.9% MoM; ⇓-477 YTD)
  • Johnston County: 3,567 (⇓-28 or -0.78% MoM; ⇑+2,590 YTD)
• LinkedIn (using the “exact location” and “0-miles” filters):
  • Raleigh: 27,044 (⇓-101 or -0.37% MoM; ⇑+179 YTD)
  • Durham: 12,031 (⇓-96 or -0.79% MoM; ⇓-2,456 YTD)
  • Chapel Hill: 3,010 (⇓-48 or -1.57% MoM; ⇑+580 YTD)
  • Johnston County: 1,784 (⇓-57 or -3.10% MoM; ⇑+238 YTD)
• ZipRecruiter (5-mile filter):
  • Raleigh: 37,067 (⇑+18 or 0.05% MoM; ⇑+3,845 YTD)
  • Durham:  16,329 (⇓-1,295 or -7.74% MoM; ⇑+586 YTD)
  • Chapel Hill: 904 (⇓-20 or -2.16% MoM; ⇓-2,739 YTD)
  • Johnston County: 416 (⇑+18 or 4.56% MoM; ⇑+37 YTD)*

Methodology on measuring Triangle job market

Editor’s Notes: The month-over-month totals are compared to our August 30 report, and the year-to-date totals compare to our Jan. 3 report.  **We’ve also updated the methodology for which we track Johnston County job openings on LinkedIn, twice now, in July and in August, as the platform updated how jobs display, and in today’s report return to month-over-month comparisons.  *And, the year-to-date data for Johnston County tracks from Jan. 31, 2022, when we began to track job postings in the county for the WRAL TechWire Jobs Report.   

Weekly Startup Jobs Report

Aside from the boards above, job seekers can also find local startup positions at these sites:

• SimplyHired (164 startup jobs near Research Triangle Park, up 2 postings from last week)
• LinkedIn (9,752 job openings that include “startup” in the Triangle region, down 379 jobs from last week and down 759 jobs from a month ago)
• Indeed (220 startup jobs in/near RTP)
• AngelList (46 job openings in Raleigh, 14 in Durham and 89 total across North Carolina
• Durham-based job site InHerSight also lists jobs at local startups among other job postings (138 this week, up five openings from a week ago.)

Here’s a look at local and regional job sites, listed in alphabetical order, below.

AMA Triangle

AMA Triangle, the fifth-largest chapter in American Marketing Association’s nationwide network, aims to be a go-to resource for all things marketing in the Triangle. The organization provides professional training, free career webinars and a job board offering free resume placement for marketing professionals.

As of Monday, the AMA Triangle job board shows 104 roles close to Raleigh (up from 94 roles posted last week and 84 roles the week prior), and another 84 roles, some of which overlap, close to Durham (down from 86 last week).

American Underground

Durham-based startup hub American Underground (Editor’s Note: American Underground is owned by Capitol Broadcasting Company, the parent company of WRAL TechWire) regularly posts job openings on its job board. Job seekers can filter their search by company, location and job function. As of Monday, the site shows 150 jobs at 53 companies (that’s down since last week but basically flat from a month ago).

Bio Jobs Hub

Last year, WRAL TechWire and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center launched a Bio Jobs Hub platform focused on biopharma manufacturing — one of North Carolina’s largest industries, employing over 26,000 people.

Typical biopharma jobs include process technicians, maintenance and/or instrumentation technicians, quality assurance and quality control associates, process development scientists and process engineers. This industry also offers competitive entry-level salaries, from $42,000 to $60,000. Scientists, skilled laborers and recent graduates can use the Bio Jobs Hub resource to find career and training opportunities in their area. Users can search by location, job category/activity and region.

Many biopharma companies are hiring in the Triangle.

Leadership Triangle

Leadership Triangle’s job board is full of job opportunities, including from small, mid-size, and large employers. The site lists 1,612 job openings at 30 companies.

NCBiotech

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center’s extensive jobs board lists open jobs and internships from local life science companies and research organizations. The organization recently updated the user interface with a fresh design. Job seekers can filter their search results by position title, job function and location. NCBiotech also touts jobs through its Bio Jobs Hub program.

The site lists 165 job openings as of Monday, up from 148 last week and 131 the week prior. (Editor’s Note: This list does not include openings posted by recruiting/staffing firms.)

NC TECH

The North Carolina Technology Association (NC TECH) has an interactive job board that you can use to find your next career opportunity. Users can search by keyword, location, category, type (full-time or part-time) and experience level.

Raleigh Founded

Raleigh Founded, a startup incubator and coworking space that is celebrating its 10th anniversary soon, has its own job board.  Job seekers can filter results by company, company size, industry and job function.  The site currently lists 62 positions as of Monday.

Triangle Region Job Board

Leadership Triangle, Raleigh Founded and American Underground teamed up to create the Triangle Region Job Board, which synthesizes all of the openings posted on the organizations’ job boards.

As of Monday, the site shows 2,922 job openings.  That’s up 112 openings from last week.

Work in the Triangle

Work in the Triangle, a Wake County Economic Development program, regularly shares new openings through its Twitter feed, @WorkTriangleNC. The program launched a job board on its website earlier this year, with 6,518 job openings on Monday. Last week, there were 7,164 openings.

Still, of the current job openings, 4,807  are technology jobs (down from 5,415 job openings a week ago, and down from 7,105 openings a month ago), 952 are advanced manufacturing positions (up one opening from a week ago), 355 are in cleantech (down slightly from last week) and 403 are in life sciences roles (down from 425 openings from last week).

Every Tuesday, Work in the Triangle’s #TriangleTuesdays hashtag lists hot jobs in the area.  Scroll through the #TriangleTuesdays hashtag on Twitter today for more details on the latest openings.  

Where are the jobs in the Triangle?

• Amazon: 82 job openings in the Triangle (down from 91 a week ago), though some roles can be done remotely, according to the company’s career page.  Amazon is closing multiple North Carolina facilities, though a company spokesperson told WRAL TechWire that Amazon is not laying off any workers.  Workers at an Amazon facility in Garner continue efforts to unionize.
• Apple (corporate roles): 69 job openings in the Triangle, according to the company’s career page, down one role from a week ago.  The company announced the iPhone 14 and other products at an event produced earlier this month.
• Bandwidth: 13 job openings in Raleigh, according to the company’s career page.  The company will require its employees to work in-person five days per week, WRAL TechWire reported this month.
• BASF*: 39 job openings in the Triangle, according to the company’s career page
• BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina*: 53 job openings in the Triangle, according to the company’s career page
• BD*: 25 job openings in the Triangle, according to the company’s career page
• Cisco: 219 job openings in Research Triangle Park, according to the company’s career page, up 16 openings from a week ago
• Citrix: 22 job openings in Raleigh, according to the company’s career page
• Credit Suisse*: 73 job openings in the Triangle, according to the company’s career page, down 40 openings from last week.  Stock prices plunged on Monday.
• Duke Energy*: 11 job openings in the Triangle, according to the company’s career page
• Eaton*: 79 job openings in Raleigh, according to the company’s career page.  Earlier this year, the company announced plans to hire about 170 workers who will be based in the company’s revamped Raleigh office. There are 10 more openings this week compared to last.
• Eli Lilly: 38 job openings in Research Triangle Park, according to the company’s career page
• Fidelity Investments: 564 job openings in Durham, according to the company’s career page, down 14 openings from a week ago.
• FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies: 49 job openings in the Triangle, according to the company’s career page
• Google: 209 job openings in Durham, according to the company’s career page, with one additional role at Google Fiber in Durham.  The company is making cuts in some areas of the company but is expected to continue to hire for the Durham engineering hub, WRAL TechWire reported earlier this month. 
• Grifols*: 118 job openings in North Carolina, including in Durham and Clayton, according to the company’s career page
• GlaxoSmithKline*: 123job openings in Durham, according to the company’s career page
• IBM: 2 job opening in RTP, according to the company’s career page.  There’s been no change in recent weeks, though the company reported quarterly earnings in July and did say it would continue to hire in August.
• IQVIA: 404 job openings in RTP, according to the company’s career page (down from 420 the prior week)
• Kyndryl: 71 job openings in RTP (down nine openings from last week), according to the company’s career page
• Labcorp: 275 job openings in Burlington, N.C. (up 15 openings from last week), according to the company’s career page 
• Lenovo: 281 job openings in Morrisville, according to the company’s career page, down 26 job openings from a week ago.
• MetLife: 134 job openings in Cary, according to the company’s career page, up 10 openings from a week ago.  MetLife told WRAL TechWire recently that it planned to hire 400 workers by New Year’s Day and will host an employer informational session through NC TECH today.
• Merck*: 23 job openings in the Triangle, according to the company’s career page
• Microsoft: 19job openings in Raleigh, according to the company’s career page
• NetApp: 132 job openings in the Triangle, according to the company’s career page, down 30 openings from last week and 51 job openings from two weeks ago. 
• Novo Nordisk: 178 jobs in the Triangle, according to the company’s career page.  And even more jobs could be coming to a Novo Nordisk location in Johnston County, WRAL TechWire reported earlier this month. (Prior weekly reports underreported the total number of available jobs in the Triangle, due to an error from WRAL TechWire.)
• Novartis: 5 job openings in the Triangle, according to the company’s career page.  The company is closing a Wilson plant. 
• Pendo: 10 job openings in Raleigh, according to the company’s career page.  The technology unicorn did announce there would be Pendo layoffs earlier this month with less than 5% of the company’s workforce, and less than two dozen employees in Raleigh affected.
• Pfizer*: 86 job openings in North Carolina, according to the company’s career page, down from 105 openings last week.
• Red Hat: 26 job openings in Raleigh, according to the company’s career page.  Red Hat is owned by IBM.
• RTI International: 110 job openings in Durham, according to the company’s career page, down 10 openings from last week
• SAS: 157 job openings in Cary, according to the company’s career page.
• Science 37*: 7 job openings that could be based in Raleigh, though some other roles are remote
• Sensus (Xylem)*: 37 job openings in the Triangle, according to the company’s career page
• Spectrum*: 37 job openings in the Triangle, according to the company’s career page
• Syneos Health*: 2 job openings in Raleigh, according to the company’s career page
• Toshiba Global Commerce: 59 openings in Durham, according to the company’s career page
• Wolfspeed: 237 job openings in Durham, according to the company’s career page.  The company announced a $5 billion investment that is expected to bring some 1,800 jobs to the region earlier this month, as reported earlier this year by WRAL TechWire.
• Worldwide Clinical Trials*: 57 job openings in North Carolina, according to the company’s careers page

Upcoming hiring events

• NC TECH “Meet the Employer” Sessions: Oct. 4 (online).  Multiple sessions are scheduled, beginning at 9 AM with CarGurus, followed by sessions with First Citizens Bank at 11:30 AM and then MetLife at 3:30 PM.
• NC TECH Virtual Jobs Fair: Oct. 5 (online). The NC TECH Job Expo is primarily focused on candidates seeking tech-related jobs/careers and internships. Whether actively seeking a job or interested in learning more about the participating employers.
• Fall 2022 Western NC Career Expo: Oct. 11 (WNC Agricultural Center).  Western North Carolina businesses and organizations are ready to promote career opportunities for job seekers in advanced manufacturing, technology, health care, tourism, professional services and other high-growth industries.
• NC State Data Science Career Expo: Oct. 17 (James B. Hunt Jr. Library). The Data Science Academy at NC State University invites students, alumni and employers to the Data Science Career Expo on Monday, Oct. 17.

NC TECH Virtual Job Expo

Other resources to find Triangle job postings

If you’re a student looking for an internship or entry-level position at a local company or organization, your university has resources to help you get started. Quick links below:

For Johnston County job seekers: The recently launched JoCo Careers website helps job seekers find companies hiring in Johnston County. (More TechWire coverage here.)

Johnston County launches new jobs platform to connect workers to local jobs

Look for Triangle job postings on these Twitter accounts

Here are some locally run Twitter accounts that regularly share job openings in the Triangle: