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Methodology & Technical Notes
Since our first survey in 2014, LEAD has carried out a biennial statewide survey of businesses on behalf of the NCWorks Commission to better understand and respond to employers’ experiences on a range of topics including hiring and hiring difficulties, recruitment and retention, training, and other topics of interest to the Commission. The 2026 version of the Employer Needs Survey also aimed to support the goals of the Governor’s Council on Workforce and Apprenticeship, including increasing participation in work-based learning, integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into sector-based strategies and creating workforce development strategies for three key industries—manufacturing, education, and health care.
While the original 2014 survey emerged out of concerns about “skills gaps” on the part of jobseekers, employers responses have led us to focus more on potential mismatches within the labor market. The low number of job applicants and the lack of foundational employability characteristics in those who do apply have consistently outweighed technical skills, hard skills, and educational credentials. For this reason, we have focused on hiring attempts and hiring difficulties and sought to explore potential causes for these missed opportunities to make good matches between the two groups. These challenges could be about specific characteristics of jobseekers, employers, or factors outside the control of either group—from labor shortages (not enough workers in general), geographic mismatches (distance between jobseekers and employers is too great), occupational mismatches (the wrong type of workers for employers’ needs), or characteristics of the workplace or industry that may not appeal to jobseekers. In addition, inefficiencies in recruiting practices or a lack of competitive wages and benefits could also prevent efficient matches.
LEAD designed the 2026 survey and contracted with NC State University’s Center for Urban Affairs and Community Services to conduct phone interviews beginning in November of 2025 through February of 2026. As in previous versions, this was a statewide survey of establishments with at least 10 employees and included four samples: 1) an Overall sample of employers from all industries drawn to be representative of the state’s industrial mix; 2) a Manufacturing sample; 3) a Health Care and Social Assistance sample (minus Child Care), and 4) an Education and Child Care sample. Each sample was weighted by industrial mix and size class in order to make them representative of the state’s employers. One change from previous versions of the survey was to combine Child Care employers with other Education employers in order to better capture their experiences. Each sample received over 400 responses, providing enough cases to produce statistically representative statements about the larger population of employers.