Indian working women more worried about job availability: LinkedIn

The second wave of Covid worsened 'shecession' as twice as many working women in India are worried about availability of jobs, time for job-seeking compared to working men, according to the LinkedIn Workforce Confidence Index report released on Tuesday.

Shecession -- an economic downturn where job and income losses are affecting women more than men. The term was coined by C. Nicole Mason, president and chief executive of the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR), a thinktank.

The report, based on the survey responses of 1,891 professionals from May 8 to June 4, revealed how the aftermath of the pandemic's second wave has left Indian professionals -- particularly Gen Z and working women -- increasingly vulnerable to the economic uncertainty in today's evolving job market.

The finding showed that working women's confidence level dipped four times more compared to working men. This uneven impact has also bruised the financial stability of working women as one in four (23 per cent) female professionals are concerned about growing expenses or debt, in contrast with just one in 10 (13 per cent) working men.

The pandemic's recent peak in India has also amplified the importance of work experience and professional connections, as young Indians were found more than twice as worried as their older counterparts, about the impact of Covid-19 on their careers.

About 30 per cent Gen Z professionals were found to be troubled due to lack of jobs, compared to 18 per cent baby boomers.

"As India slowly begins to come out of the second wave of Covid-19 cases, we see the year-over-year hiring rate recover from a low of 10 per cent in April to 35 per cent at the end of May. Despite this modest revival, confidence levels of working women and young professionals are amongst the lowest in the workforce today," said Ashutosh Gupta, India Country Manager, LinkedIn, in a statement.

"Twice as many working women are concerned with job availability compared to working men, and 30 per cent of Gen Z professionals worry due to lack of jobs. Remote jobs can be the ray of hope, to provide the much-needed flexibility and growth in opportunities to help them bounce back into the workforce," Gupta added.

Further, the report showed that India's overall workforce confidence has declined after peaking in early March, with a composite score of 54 plus today (down 4 points from 58 plus in March). This dip in confidence is reflected strongly across professionals from creative industries such as entertainment, design, and media and communications, who expressed being uncertain about the future of their employers.

But as several parts of the economy gradually reopen, professionals from software and IT and hardware and networking are growing increasingly confident about the future of their organisations.

Moreover, 'flexibility' and 'work life balance' has become as important as 'salary' and 'benefits'.

This growing demand for flexibility comes at a time when remote opportunities continue to grow. According to the recent Labour Market Update, remote job postings that increased by 35 times across 2020, grew further by almost 3 times year-on-year as of May 2021.