Good news: More women join the workforce in India post COVID-19

Chandra R Srikanth
Chandra R Srikanth | Senior Editor
Updated Sep 29, 2020 | 13:13 IST

While hiring of women saw a U-shaped trajectory in developed countries - dipping in April before recovering in June and July, India has seen a contra trend play out.

Representational image
Representational image 

Bengaluru: Microsoft-owned professional networking platform LinkedIn said female workforce participation in India increased from 30 per cent in April to reach 37 per cent by the end of July, a sign that the new work from home norms are benefitting women who would have otherwise have had to drop out of the workforce due to personal commitments.

In what comes as good news on the hiring front, LinkedIn said hiring has seen a pick up by 25 per cent by the end of July compared to June. These findings were part of the second edition of LinkedIn's 'Labour Market Update', a monthly meter on hiring trends in India. 

While hiring declined to -50 per cent year on year in April at the height of the coronavirus outbreak and lockdown, it has started to slowly recover. 

 The hiring rate was at -15 per cent year-on-year as of the end of June. In late July, it crossed the 0% mark and reached positive territory of around +10% year-on-year as of the end of July, registering a 25 percentage point improvement compared to the end of June, according to the labour market update. But LinkedIn tempered these findings stating that there are risks of second-wave infections and weak economic outlook. 

While hiring of women saw a U-shaped trajectory in developed countries - dipping in April before recovering in June and July, India has seen a contra trend play out. The share of female hires in India increased from around 30 per cent in April to reach 37 per cent at the end of July. 

The factors that possibly helped include strong support from live-in help and grandparents, more flexible working hours with remote working schemes, which has allowed more women to enter the workforce despite schools and childcare facilities being closed during the lock-down.

“In India, work from home has certainly boosted gender parity and emerged as a great equalizer in terms of gender diversity with increase in female representation across key sectors. The lockdown, which promoted acceptance of the work from home concept supported by flexible work hours, has emerged as an opportunity for women to rebuild their careers and start afresh,” said Pei Ying Chua, APAC Lead Economist, Economic Graph team at LinkedIn.

Gender parity has improved across many industries: Female representation grew by 8 percentage points across Corporate Services, Education, Health Care and Media & Communications.
 

Get all latest Business News, Market News , Income Tax News, Share Market, Sensex Today live updates on Times Now

NEXT STORY