While the metro’s professional/business services sector remains strong, however (payrolls are more than 5 percent higher than a year ago), the government sector continued to show employment declines in the second quarter of this year. As the state capital, Raleigh is subject to the same fiscal constraints many other local governments across the nation are experiencing. According to research and consulting firm Maximus Advisors, the government’s payrolls declined in five of the first six months of 2011 and are 2.5 percent lower than a year ago. Though the long-term prospects for the area remain strong, further cuts in the government sector will likely contribute to short-term weakness in the market.
Despite these fiscal concerns, long term, both a healthy business sector and the Triangle’s rising population—up more than 65 percent since 1990—indicate that the area is a major draw not only for new companies but for individuals, as well. Since 1990, the MSA’s percentage growth rate has more than tripled that of the nation’s and has outpaced growth in every other North Carolina MSA.
Each month, more than 3,000 people move to the Raleigh-Durham area. As of 2009, the Triangle had already exceeded prior population projection figures for 2010, which estimated the population at just over 1.5 million.
