{"id":1074,"date":"2026-05-26T20:36:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T20:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=1074"},"modified":"2026-05-26T20:36:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T20:36:00","slug":"disruptive-year-shuffles-list-of-triangles-biggest-employers-heres-a-closer-look-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=1074","title":{"rendered":"Disruptive year shuffles list of Triangle\u2019s biggest employers. Here\u2019s a closer look"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cisco Systems announced companywide layoffs<\/a> earlier this month in a step it framed as necessary to \u201cwin in the AI era.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Large alligator calmly walked house to house like a stray dog, NC officials say<\/a><\/p>\n

How many, if any, of its roughly 4,000 job cuts will affect Cisco\u2019s sizable Research Triangle Park workforce remains unclear. The Bay Area tech company declined to provide site-specific layoff numbers to The News & Observer. Cisco also wouldn\u2019t disclose its current local headcount (in March 2025, the company had told The N&O it employed more than 4,950 workers at its western Wake County campus.)<\/p>\n

Private businesses are entitled to withhold a lot of employment data from the public. But one state database<\/a> offers glimpses into staff fluctuations at the Triangle\u2019s biggest hirers. Once a month, the N.C. Department of Commerce requires every business, nonprofit, government agency, and school in the state that pays unemployment insurance taxes to report their local jobs figures.<\/p>\n

This rule applies to the vast majority of positions. Elected officials and active-military personnel are exempt. The state keeps hiring numbers confidential, however, four times a year, it orders the top employers in all 100 counties \u2014 No. 1 to No. 25 \u2014 and posts the rankings online. It also displays the top 300 employers statewide.<\/p>\n

North Carolina recently updated its lists, now current through the end of 2025. The data doesn\u2019t reflect the deluge of hiring decisions linked to artificial intelligence<\/a>, but the last calendar year still delivered plenty of volatility.<\/p>\n

Read more Store closing at Crabtree mall in Raleigh offers discounts. What we know<\/a><\/p>\n

Federal funding cuts prompted mass staff reductions<\/a> at Durham research organizations like Duke University, FHI 360, and RTI International. The latter entered last year as the No. 178 biggest employer statewide and finished at No. 260. Duke University dropped from No. 2 to No. 3.<\/p>\n

On the plus side, Toyota opened its massive battery plant<\/a> south of Greensboro in 2025 and entered the state\u2019s Top 300 employers at No. 177. Eli Lilly, with new facilities in the Triangle and outside Charlotte, also broke into the top employer lists.<\/p>\n

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the combined Durham-Chapel Hill metro area lost 3,800 jobs over the 12-month period beginning in February 2025. The Raleigh-Cary metro, in contrast, added 13,300 jobs during this period.<\/p>\n

Here are the top hirers in each of the Triangle\u2019s five largest counties at the end of 2025 \u2014 with a snapshot of which employers rose and fell the most during the year:<\/p>\n

Read more Two ADs, one handoff: Bubba Cunningham and Steve Newmark talk UNC transition<\/a><\/p>\n

Durham County (including most of RTP):<\/b><\/p>\n

Durham rise:<\/b><\/p>\n

Durham drop:<\/b><\/p>\n

Wake County:<\/b><\/p>\n

Wake County rise:<\/b><\/p>\n

Wake County drop:<\/b><\/p>\n

Orange County:<\/b><\/p>\n

Orange County rise:<\/b><\/p>\n

Orange County drop:<\/b><\/p>\n

Johnston County:<\/b><\/p>\n

Johnston County rise:<\/b><\/p>\n

Johnston County drop:<\/b><\/p>\n

Chatham County:<\/b><\/p>\n

Chatham County rise:<\/b><\/p>\n

Chatham County drop:<\/b><\/p>\n

This story was originally published May 26, 2026 at 5:30 AM.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Biggest employers in Raleigh and Durham, NC see shifts and Cisco lays off due to AI as Johnston, Orange and Chatham counties also go through hiring changes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1041,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nDisruptive year shuffles list of Triangle\u2019s biggest employers. 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