Jobs in North Carolina

North Carolina Overview

The North Carolina job market is slowly improving as the state's economy rebounds. The Tar Heel State is currently experiencing employment gains for its 4.7 million workers, especially in its top sectors of finance, technology and manufacturing.

North Carolina Job Opportunities

Concentrated in the Research Triangle Park area, employment in North Carolina is fueled by finance, aerospace, technology, and research and development as well as by the state's 10 military installations.

Trade, transportation and utilities and government are the top two sectors for jobs in North Carolina, followed by education/health services and professional/business services. While the professional/business services sector has reported strong year-over-year expansion, the government sector has reported the greatest declines.

North Carolina Employment Trends

Despite double-digit growth in online hiring for the past year, North Carolina's unemployment rate was still over 9 percent in 2012. The unemployment rate, which remained in double digits from March 2009 to January 2012, peaked at 11.4 percent in early 2010. Payroll employment dropped for two years during the recession, but has trended positive since October 2010.

Moody's Analytics forecasts an encouraging 1.8 percent increase in North Carolina jobs between Q2 2012 and Q2 2013, compared to the 1.3 percent gain expected in the national job supply during that time.