NC tech leaders grow more pessimistic about economy; 17.5% of them implemented the employment ban

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reel – According to a quarterly survey of technology leaders, North Carolina leaders are feeling more pessimistic about the tech sector than they were a quarter ago — and 19% of respondents said they have stopped hiring or are continuing to lay off workers or cut wages.

In the year According to the April 2022 election results, only 5.7% of companies have frozen hiring, while the latest data shows that 17.5% of companies have reduced hiring and an additional 1.6% of companies are active or in the process of hiring. Currently considering layoffs, layoffs, or pay cuts.

“There’s a lot of negativity in the private sector,” Dennis Stearns, founder of Stearns Financial, which backs the poll, said in a presentation Wednesday. “Expectations that we are in a recession or that a recession is coming are too high.”

Is the Triangle Jobs Market Slowing? The number of openings is variable.

Key takeaways from technology leaders

One key takeaway from this survey, NC Tech President and CEO Brooks Raiford said, is that there is a shift in how leaders view the current economic climate.

“There’s definitely been a shift in some responses after the first two quarterly polls,” Raiford told WRAL TechWire in an interview. “Confidence in business growth in the coming quarter is down 20 points from the Q2 (April) poll.”

Technology leaders were asked about their business growth expectations for the next quarter. By April 2022, 69.2% of respondents expected business to grow.

But now the data shows that 50.4% of technology leaders expect to grow their own business.

Technology leaders are feeling more confident in their own businesses than they were a quarter ago.

A screenshot of the NC TECH slide shared via Zoom webinar.

A sense of change in the technology sector

“There’s been a bit of a shift,” Raiford said of his outlook for the second quarter of the year compared to the first. For example, the number of respondents who rated the sector’s performance as “great” decreased by seven percent.

April 2022 data shows that 18.7% of respondents perceive the first quarter of 2022 to be “very good” for North Carolina’s technology sector. But that’s down to 12.7% in the last survey, according to survey results released by NC Tech earlier today.

When leaders looked at their own businesses, the decline was even more significant. While 32.1% of leaders said the first quarter was “great” for their organization, only 19.8% reported the same in the new data.

Another point of note, according to Raiford: Leaders are concerned about the so-called Great Recession, as well as ongoing concerns about supply chains, in future projections for their businesses.

Technology leaders are concerned about the economy

NC TECH Slideshare Screenshot of NC TECH survey data.

Labor market and economy

This comes amid a turbulent and volatile labor market and an increasing number of layoffs and layoffs that could impact North Carolina workers. And NC TECH said the number of tech openings in June 2022 was down nearly 10% compared to May 2022, even though more than 50,000 jobs in the IT sector remained open that month, according to the organization’s latest report.

“Recently released June data shows a significant increase in IT job postings in May, but up 41% compared to June last year,” said Raiford. “Whether that’s a trend or a dip remains to be seen, and we’ll see changes in summer hiring, so it could be cyclical.”

June’s employment numbers for the U.S. economy were an “exciting thing,” Raiford said.

And later this week, the US government will release second-quarter GDP growth data, Stearns said. .

“We have the biggest gap in the GIO, not in the gross domestic product, but in the income part of the equation,” Stearns said. “While the GDP gap narrowed in the first quarter, the largest gap and some strengths will play well in the NC tech industry.”

UNC professor: Consumer confidence is misplaced – don’t panic

Tech leaders are more positive about their own companies.

Still, survey responses show growing concern about the overall economic environment and labor market conditions, Rayford said, “Respondents continue to be more bullish about their own firms than about the sector as a whole.”

“It’s important to note that people feel better about their own organization than the sector as a whole,” Raiford said in a statement on Wednesday.

Raiford said one of the things leaders will note is that the macroeconomic climate, along with inflation and employee retirements, are leading to workforce challenges, and they are looking to address ongoing workforce needs through retention and recruiting efforts. to be employed.

“There’s an interesting contrast between wanting to be cautious about hiring because of economic uncertainty,” Raiford said, while looking to satisfy existing employees.

More than 50% of companies that responded to the survey still expect their company to grow this quarter, the survey results show. But that has changed dramatically since last quarter’s survey.

“Growth is down 20%,” Raiford said. But they did not move into a negative or pessimistic state.

Advice for job seekers in changing the labor market: Be careful, economists warn

Is the balance of power shifting in the technology sector?

The survey found that while the percentage of companies offering full remote work will remain steady through 2022, the percentage of employees working remotely appears to have declined in recent quarters.

“This means that workers are slowly coming back to the office,” Raiford said.

Furthermore, uncertainty about the future of the economy and labor market means that the balance of power in the workplace is shifting towards employers.

“There are signs that there may be a slowdown in hiring,” Raiford said. And that means those North Carolinians looking for a new job may be in for a rapidly changing job market.

Dr. Michael Walden, Reynolds Distinguished Professor Emeritus at North Carolina State University and a WRAL TechWire contributor, has one clear piece of advice for job seekers: In an interview focused on advice for job seekers, the first signs of an interview show a growing tension. Triangular labor markets. “Don’t hesitate to take up the work you are given. Even if there is no recession, the economy can slow down and so will the employment rate.

And, earlier this month, job postings appeared to have cooled, including in the state’s startup economy. But this week, some job boards are showing an uptick in job postings from previous weeks, even though July saw more layoff announcements across the state’s economy from startups to Fortune 100 companies, and job postings are down month-over-month, with many job postings.

Retrenchment Time: Job cuts are starting to hit NC – this is the latest.



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