Good job news for NC: High-tech openings rebound in June

RALEIGH – Information technology job openings climbed in June – the first increase since the COVID-19 pandemic struck full force in March – according to a new report from the NC Technology Association.

Although well below the openings reported a year ago, job postings climbed by nearly 1,000 from May to 23,715.

Leading the way: A year-over-year increase of more than 1% in demand for software developers to 6,779.

“After declining sharply over the course of April and May, North Carolina IT job openings in June were up moderately,” said Brooks Raiford, CEO of NC TECH, a business advocacy organization.

The news comes after North Carolina reported the statewide unemployment rate fell 5 points to 7.6%.

But is this a blip?

NC TECH graphic

“It remains to be seen whether this improvement will continue; hiring nationally has reportedly softened in the first half of July as various states retreat from earlier re-opening plans,” Raiford noted.

Openings are down year-over-year by 18% with the Triangle posting a big drop.

Raleigh area job openings fell by nearly 24%, and Durham-Chapel postings plummted by more than 25%.

Openings fell in Charlotte by more than 15% as the fintech sector continues to show strength.

“One bright spot in the tech jobs market, which may explain why the Charlotte metro area is not as impacted as other locations in the state, is that technology jobs in finance and banking have increased since last year by 41.9%,” the report notes.

Several metro areas bucked the negative trend: Fayetteville (+15%), Asheville (+15%) Hickory area (+23%) and Jacksonville (+34%) bucked the downward trend.

Here’s a breakdown by metro area:

City, June 2020 jobs, Year-over-year