RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – As North Carolina’s unemployment rate continues its steady decline, employers across the state are simultaneously ramping up their hiring efforts. There are currently tens of thousands of jobs on offer across the Triangle region alone.
According to the latest data from the North Carolina Department of Commerce, the state’s unemployment rate hovered around 5% in April, reflecting only a slight drop from the previous month. Still, that figure is 8.5 percentage opoints lower than a year ago, when unemployment hit 13.5%.
But the pace of hiring varies widely from sector to sector. April’s most significant job gains came from manufacturing, construction, leisure and hospitality services, information technology, and education and health services, per NC Department of Commerce data. At the same time, professional and business services, trade, transportation and utilities, government, financial activities, mining and logging, and other services saw decreases
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – WRAL TechWire is tracking the Triangle’s job trends as the region continues its economic recovery. Our 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 for what positions. We’ve also included upcoming job fairs, student-centric resources and a list of Twitter accounts that track local job openings.
Let’s highlight what’s new on the job boards since last week’s Jobs Report:
New Jobs at Terra Dotta
Chapel Hill-based edtech company Terra Dotta told TechWire earlier this month that it’s looking to fill several jobs across its development, sales, support, finance and accounting teams.
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – While the pace of hiring has been ramping up in the Triangle and across North Carolina, considerable talent gaps continue to dampen the region’s economic recovery.
WRAL TechWire examined this dynamic last week in a multi-part series covering the state’s emerging “jobs conundrum.” Pandemic-related concerns and lack of financial incentives play into this shortfall, as NC State economist Mike Walden pointed out in a column.
Employers are scrambling to fill high-demand roles in healthcare, drug development and biotechnology, as today’s Jobs Report shows. Jobs in tech-centric occupations like software development and information technology are also readily available.
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – The U.S. Department of Labor reported last week that nationwide unemployment has now hit the lowest point since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020. Around 498,000 Americans filed unemployment claims in the last week of April, down by 92,000 from the previous week. North Carolina saw new claims drop by about 3,440 in the same period.
But that doesn’t mean the pandemic recession is over. North Carolina is still tens of thousands of jobs short of where the state was in March 2020.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ newly released April jobs report shows a significant decline in hiring. According to the report, U.S. businesses added 266,000 new jobs in April, a notable drop from March’s revised total of 770,000. April’s unemployment rate remains at 6.1%, a tiny change from 6% in March.
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – The Triangle’s job market rebound isn’t showing signs of stopping. According to the latest data released by the North Carolina Department of Commerce last week, the Durham/Chapel Hill metropolitan statistical area reported a 3.8% unemployment rate in March, reflecting a decent drop from 4.7% in February. Raleigh is a close second, with unemployment dropping to 3.9% from 4.7% in February.
Both of these figures outpace the state’s 4.6% average (not seasonally adjusted), which fell 1% from the previous month.
The improving jobs outlook comes well before Apple begins hiring in the Triangle for the 3,000 positions it announced last week as part of a new $1 billion campus in the Triangle.