Tech jobs market in Raleigh is red hot, up more than 20% from 2020

RALEIGH – Employers in Raleigh are thirsting for high-tech talent with the COVID-19 pandemic a fading memory – at least when it comes to hiring.

So says a new report from the North Carolina Technology Association.

More than 10,600 jobs openings were posted in January, a whopping 22.5% jump year-over-year and three months ahead of the pandemic, NC TECH notes in its monthly IT Job Trends report.

How hot is tech job demand?

Openings increased more than 1,100 from December and are up nearly 1,000 from November.

Overall, job postings have soared some 40% since the pandemic-low of 6,450 jobs posted last May.

Backing up the report’s findings, WRAL TechWire’s weekly jobs resource guide for the Triangle on Monday reported a wide variety of open positions as listed at various job boards.

Why the growth? In part, more digitalization at companies in the Triangle and across North Carolina, forced upon companies by the panedemic, the report says.

“When compared to the same time period in the previous year, the North Carolina tech jobs market saw the largest increase year over year in two industries – manufacturing and information,” notes the report’s analysis. “Manufacturing, with a 103.3% increase in available positions over 2020, experienced heavy disruption in 2020 as restrictions forced new capabilities, processes, and policies for manufacturers across segments.”

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While job openings dipped from 2020 in Durham-Chapel Hill and Charlotte – the state’s other two largest tech job markets – recruiters were looking to hire software developers, computer systems engineers and architects, as well as information technology project managers. Demand for each of those three skills categories was up from a year ago.

More than 28.000 jobs were posted across the state, a slight improvement from December but down 7% from a year ago.

“This increase, while relatively minor, heralds the overarching optimistic approach many analysts have taken with respect to the year and the continuous recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic that disrupted 2020,” the report notes. “This fragile optimism is further lifted by the continued development and distribution of several COVID-19 vaccines, as well as discussions at the federal and state level of stimulus packages and lightened restrictions.”

And leading the way in terms of demand, according to the report, are IBM as well as IBM-owned and Raleigh-based Red Hat.

“Although IT job openings in January were a bit lower than the same month a year ago, they were up slightly from December,” said Brooks Raiford, CEO of NC TECH, in a statement. “It’s common to see an uptick in the new year as businesses pick up the pace after the holidays. We will be watching to see if that cyclical norm, as well as optimism due to increased vaccine distribution, can sustain increased hiring,”