Report: Raleigh metro area is No. 6 hottest job market across US

RALEIGH – The Raleigh metro area is the sixth among the 10 hottest job markets across the US, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

Raleigh’s rival, Austin, came in at No. 1.

News of the report comes as the City of Raleigh and other groups are preparing to showcase the Triangle region at the South by Southwest Festival starting this weekend in Austin.

Plus, there are more than 26,000 open high-tech jobs across the state with many of those in the Triangle.

There’s also a big jobs fair coming on this week.

Raleigh organizations, entrepreneurs team up for South by Southwest showcase

“Wages are growing in North Carolina’s Research Triangle, but the unemployment rate–3.6% last year–was only slightly below the national average,” the report says.

The analysis relies on a variety of data gathered about the 53 metro ares with populations of more than 1 million.

Factors considered for an overall average:

Average unemployment in 2018
Labor force participation in 2018
Change in employment and in labor force, year-over-year for the fourth quarter of 2018
Change in average weekly wage in the first half of 2018 compared to 2017