Great news for tech job hunters: Open positions climb to near-record levels

RALEIGH – Companies across North Carolina are still on the hunt for information technology talent with job openings near a record high and companies in the Charlotte are providing a lot of the demand with an increase in demand of more than 20 percent. The Triangle remains a hot market, too, as employers list more than 13,000 jobs.

So reports the North Carolina Technology Association in its monthly IT Job Trends report, based on data provided by talent management firm Greene Resources.

Public listings for open jobs climbed in November to 31,225, a 14.4 percent increase year over year. That number is up nearly 300 from October and also closing in on the 32,812 openings in March, which is the high mark in the NC business trade group’s reporting.

Leading the demand: Software developer positions at more than 8,000 – up 27 percent over November 2018.

NC Tech Association CEO Brooks Raiford note that the November numbers are “up significantly over the same period a year ago.” And with the state’s jobless rate remaining near a record low at 4 percent in October companies are having to continue to fill jobs. A recent Duke University CFO survey found that finance execs were still concerned about finding talent even as their fears of a recession possibly hitting in 2020 grew. But if tech job openings nationally are an indicator – 928,717, up 1 percent over 2018 and making up one seventh of all open positions – the recession fears may be overblown.

Most needed tech skills in NC? Artificial intelligence, automation, systems, software

And it’s not just tech firms that are hiring. The top 10 are:

Wells Fargo
Oracle
IBM
Cisco
CCI COMPANIES
Bank Of America
Deloitte
Lowe’s
PricewaterhouseCoopers
General Dynamic

The Triangle continues to be a big driver for IT jobs with some 14.6 thousand open spots. The Raleigh jobs total of 9,478 is up 3.3 percent year over year. Durham-Chapel Hill firms are looking to fill 4,192 jobs, a 4.5 percent increase.

Charlotte area firms have more than 11,500 open jobs.

Worker demand also has surged in the Triad, Asheville and Wilmington.

Here’s a look at open jobs by metro area with change over 2018 in parenthesis: