17 free data sources across 4 tiers form a comprehensive alternative to commercial labor market analytics — covering job postings, wages, supply-demand balance, and worker mobility for the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill MSA.
7 Tier 1 portals: NCWorks, LEAD dashboards (Supply-Demand, D4, Star Jobs, Regional Overviews), NC Open Data, NCcareers.org
5 Tier 2 sources: Work In The Triangle, CAWD skills surveys, Wake County, Raleigh municipal, NC State Gov jobs
5 Tier 3 sources: NLx Research Hub, O*NET API, CareerOneStop API, BLS (QCEW/OEWS/LAUS), Census LEHD (QWI/LODES)
Demand signals → Supply-demand balance → Job fluidity → Skills taxonomy. All buildable with free sources except real-time skills normalization.
Live job postings searchable by region, occupation, and industry — plus LMI wage data and top advertised occupations
Interactive dashboard directly comparing labor supply (job seekers) vs. demand (openings) by region — exactly the metric you need
Deep occupational and industry data: wages (OEWS), 10-year projections, business directories, and demographic reports
1-to-5 star ratings on occupations by wage, projected growth, and projected openings — quick "hot jobs" identification
Bottom line: NCWorks + LEAD D4 alone give you what's being posted, what it pays, and its 10-year outlook — the analytical core without spending a dime.
Key insight: The CAWD RSA surveys are the only free source that asks employers directly what skills they can't find — bridging the gap between job posting counts and actual hiring difficulty.
API access: O*NET Web Services (RESTful, free registration) + CareerOneStop Web API (combined wage/outlook data) provide programmatic occupational profiles with skills, knowledge, and abilities taxonomies.
| Layer | Metric | Primary Source |
|---|---|---|
| Demand Signals | Live job postings, occupation/region counts | NCWorks + NLx Research Hub |
| Supply-Demand Balance | Job seekers per opening, wage bands, 10-year projections | LEAD Supply-Demand Dashboard + D4 + BLS OEWS/QCEW |
| Job Fluidity & Movement | Hiring/turnover rates, worker commuting flows | Census LEHD (QWI + LODES) + LEAD Commuting Dashboard |
| Skills & Occupations | Required skills, knowledge, abilities by occupation; employer-identified gaps | O*NET Web Services + CAWD RSA Surveys + LEAD Star Jobs |
Pipeline strategy: BLS QCEW + OEWS are the authoritative backbone that all other sources derive from. Building a clean ETL pipeline to these two datasets is the foundation — then layer NCWorks, NLx, and LEHD on top.
| Capability | Free Source | Commercial Only |
|---|---|---|
| Job posting volume at scale | NCWorks (NC only), NLx (application-based) | Lightcast / LinkUp (real-time, nationwide) |
| Skills taxonomy normalization | O*NET (static, occupation-level) | Lightcast (dynamic, posting-level skills parsing) |
| Real-time analytics dashboards | LEAD dashboards (monthly, web only) | Chmura / Lightcast (API-driven, configurable) |
| Cross-board posting deduplication | None | Lightcast (patented deduplication) |
NLx fills the volume gap (millions of postings, free to researchers) but not the taxonomic normalization that Lightcast provides via its proprietary skills-parsing engine. For most workforce intelligence use cases, the free stack covers 80–90% of what you'd get from a commercial subscription.
Start with LEAD's Supply-Demand Dashboard. It's the closest free equivalent to "how much demand is there?" — direct supply/demand ratios by occupation and region for the Triangle.
Apply for NLx Research Hub access. If Duke/NCCU is doing nonprofit workforce research, this is directly in NLx's authorized use case. Unlocks Lightcast-scale job posting volume at no cost.
Build the BLS data pipeline first. QCEW + OEWS via their free APIs are the authoritative backbone. A clean ETL into these two datasets is the foundation everything else layers onto.
Download the 2023 CAWD RSA Survey. It's the only free source of employer-reported skills gaps in the Triangle — uniquely valuable for aligning training programs with actual demand.
Use Census LEHD for job fluidity. QWI (hiring, separations, turnover) + LODES (commuting flows) answer questions no other free source can — churn, worker flows, and labor market dynamics.
Monitor the 2026 CAWD RSA cycle. If the next survey is fielded this year, ensure Triangle workforce intelligence questions are included in the instrument design.
Tier guide: Tier 1 = Primary institutional source (official government website or data portal) · Tier 2 = Regional organization or workforce board publication · Tier 3 = Federal dataset or research tool — authoritative but requires application or technical integration
Generated May 22, 2026 · DeepSeek V4 Pro · research-rapid v1.0 · Gambit / brief-to-slides v2.0