Female job applicants surge month over month after marked workforce losses in 2020

Earlier this month, the talent cloud company, iCIMS, published its Monthly Workforce Report for July. The latest report details hiring data across industries and parses out applicant demographic data for a more granular look at the latest workforce trends. In recent months, the so-called Great Resignation of 2021 has made headlines as employees seek to switch jobs in the months ahead, but is this en masse turnover reflected in iCIMS’ latest workforce report?

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“There has been a lot of conversation around employees leaving their positions and companies still struggling to find qualified candidates for an overwhelming number of opening positions across industries. However, our recent workforce report reveals that things may be starting to look up,” said Rhea Moss, director of data insights and customer intelligence at iCIMS.

Hiring up, and applications from women surge

The findings are based on hiring and application data trends on the iCIMS platform. As we previously reported, the company’s April report showed that the number of job openings and platform hires increased 22% and 18%, respectively. In the company’s latest report, job openings on iCIMS’ platform increased 65% between January and June, with hiring increasing 53% and total job applications dropping 2% during this time period.

“This is encouraging to see, as job openings were down 10% in June and 20% in May,” Moss said.

Over the last year, millions of women have left the workforce with online learning and child care responsibilities behind a portion of these losses. For example, a survey published earlier this year found that men were twice as likely to say they could return to work now among respondents with children at home.

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The iCIMS report also parses out hiring and application data by demographics. The latest data shows increased applications among women 25 and older. From May to June, the number of female applicants between ages 25 and 34 jumped 15%, according to the report.

During this time period, the number of female applicants increased among all age groups including 35-44 (18%), 45-54 (18%), 55-64 (19%) as well as 65 and older (18%), per the report. Growth among female applications outnumbered the change in all adult male age groups except 55-64, where applications among both genders increased 19%.

Applications by industry

The report also details industry-specific application data. From May to June, the travel and hospitality industry saw an 11% increase in the number of job applicants after the industry remained all but grounded in 2020. In order, health services (8%), retail trade (7%) and financial, insurance and real estate industries (5%) also saw upticks in applications month over month, per iCIMS, as manufacturing lagged behind these other industries with applicants increasing 3% between May and June.

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