Women workers from Tier-II and Tier-III cities in India have registered a big boost in joining India's workforce, and in the last three years, their median pay has risen by 34%, based on a fresh report that came out on Thursday.
According to career and professional networking site Apna.co, applications from women working in smaller cities have increased four times over the period between 2021 and 2024. At the same time, job applications from these cities have increased threefold, reaching 12.8 million this year, a significant change in job trends outside the large cities.
This increase is due to several reasons, such as an increase in job opportunities, better digital connectivity, and changing recruitment strategies by firms. These developments have encouraged more women from non-metro areas to seek out different career prospects and actively participate in the workforce.
Today, jobs in sales, business development, administration, and customer care are the most preferred jobs for women in these cities, which make up 55% of the total applications. Others are also seeking jobs in marketing, banking, retailing, human resources, hospitality, teaching, and healthcare.
Interestingly, more women are also stepping into non-traditional jobs. In 2024 alone, almost six lakh applications were registered for field sales, 2.5 lakh for logistics and delivery, and 1.5 lakh for security services.
A number of cities like Lucknow, Jaipur, Indore, Bhopal, Surat, Nagpur, and Coimbatore have also become major women's employment destinations, accounting for 45% of the overall job applications. Cities like Kanpur, Bhubaneswar, Ranchi, Chandigarh, Patna, Ludhiana, Vadodara, and Guwahati are also increasing in importance as developing job destinations.
One of the key trends emphasised in the report is the increasing number of fresh graduates joining. Apna.co data shows that the number of women first-time job seekers in Tier-II and Tier-III cities has grown 2.5 times to almost nine lakh in 2024.
This implies that an increasing number of young women are actively looking for jobs as soon as they finish their education. The contribution of online job platforms has been significant in making the employment search process easy for new graduates, so they can access work opportunities more easily.
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