LinkedIn, a global online professional network, today announced findings of the second edition of the ‘Labour Market Update’, a monthly update on hiring trends and insights based on LinkedIn's Economic Graph.

Increase in gender parity

LinkedIn’s global analysis showed that the hiring of women in many developed countries followed a U-shaped trajectory in 2020, dipping in April before recovering in June and July.

However, India bucked the trend in maintaining and even increasing gender parity – the share of female hires increased from around 30 per cent in April to reach 37 per cent at the end of July.

According to Pei Ying Chua, APAC Lead Economist, Economic Graph team at LinkedInin India, work from home is the major reason that has boosted gender parity.

Chua added: “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.”

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

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Hiring rate

This comes as the hiring in India picked up by 25 percentage points by end of July as compared to June.

Earlier in the year, hiring declines reached a low of below -50 per cent year-on-year in April, before starting 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 per cent mark and reached a positive territory of around +10 per cent year-on-year as of the end of July, registering a 25-percentage point improvement compared to the end of June.

However, risks of second-wave of infections still remain, and further recovery may also be tempered by a weak economic outlook, the report added.