Number of IT job openings in North Carolina dropped by a quarter in April
The number of technology job openings in North Carolina dropped by 25% in April, the first full month in which the state was under a stay-at-home order because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to new figures compiled by the N.C. Technology Association.
It’s the second straight month that the tech industry has pulled back on hiring — as COVID-19’s effects are felt throughout the state’s economy. More than one million people in the state have filed for unemployment benefits since the pandemic began shutting down business activity.
N.C. Tech Association President Brooks Raiford said previously he expected April to be the worst month for the tech industry.
“The pullback in hiring is starting to show,” Raiford said in an interview with The News & Observer last month. “I am expecting that April is going to tell the tale.”
The tech industry, long one of the state’s fastest growing sectors, has been more resilient than some industries as much of its workforce transitioned quickly to working from home. In a sign of how the pandemic has changed the way people work, nearly 75% of tech companies in the state now expect working from home will be a common practice going forward, a recent survey found.
Job openings decline in Raleigh and Charlotte
The number of tech job openings in North Carolina fell faster than the rest of the country’s, which as a whole saw a 20% decline in postings, according to N.C. Tech.
Much of the hiring slowdown was seen in the state’s traditional tech hot beds: the Triangle and Charlotte. Job openings fell more than 28% in April for both Raleigh and Charlotte, while the Durham-Chapel Hill metro area saw a 25% decline.
The five largest hirers of tech talent in North Carolina last month were Wells Fargo, Oracle, IBM, Spectrum and Lowe’s, according to NC Tech.
Now, with parts of the economy beginning to reopen, and Gov. Roy Cooper mulling moving the state into the Phase 2 of reopening this week, it remains to be seen how fast business can recover.
A third of businesses surveyed on May 15 by N.C. Tech said that demand in their products or services has been dented by the pandemic.
Around 46% of those same companies said they had frozen hiring because of the coronavirus as well. However, just 8% of companies said they were exploring layoffs or furloughs.
A ‘U-shaped’ recovery
This is the third polling of tech companies by NC Tech since the pandemic began. The latest poll’s biggest change was what kind of economic recovery many expect to see happen in the coming months.
In mid-April, more than 20% of respondents forecasting a “V-shaped” recovery, in which economic growth takes a sharp dip but recovers just as quickly.
Now, only 3.2% of respondents predicted a V-shaped recovery.
The most popular expectation for a potential recovery was a “U-shaped” one, with 44.8% of respondents saying they expect a sharp decline in the economy followed by a period of stabilization and then a strong recovery.
More than a third of respondents predicted a “W-shaped” recovery (economic decline, followed by rebound and then another decline), and 16.7% are now expecting a longer-term recession to result from the pandemic.
This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. Learn more; go to bit.ly/newsinnovate
This story was originally published May 19, 2020 at 2:50 PM with the headline "Number of IT job openings in North Carolina dropped by a quarter in April."
