'Tier 2 markets see increasing participation from female workers'

New Delhi: Women from tier 2 cities have been enthusiastically participating to be a part of the workforce and have also started opting for unconventional roles for flexibility and better income opportunities, says a report.

In 2022, jobs and professional networking platform 'apna' witnessed more than 31 million professional conversations among women from tier 1, tier 2, and beyond cities with an overall 36 per cent year-on-year increase in women users on the platform.

As per the report, apna saw around 80 per cent increase in the number of new women users on its platform.

Companies like Paytm, Zomato, Rapido, and Swiggy among others, have been among the top partners posting maximum jobs for women to diversify their workplaces, it said.

"... 2022 has demonstrated that female users are not just looking for jobs out of necessity but to be financially independent, and to create their own identities in the increasingly competitive job market.

"In fact in 2022, 60 per cent more women applied for night shift jobs...," Manas Singh, Chief Business Officer, apna.co, said in a statement.

Apart from tier 1 cities like Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Chennai, job postings in tier 2 cities like Indore saw 28 per cent year-on-year surge, while Chandigarh and Lucknow saw a 15 per cent increase each.

Interestingly, labour-intensive roles such as delivery, lab technicians, factory workers, and drivers saw 34 per cent increase in job applications, coming in exclusively from women, it said.

The platform also saw 67 per cent growth in job applications from women for part-time jobs vis-a-vis a 34 per cent increase in full-time jobs.

There has also been an increase in the number of women applying for night shifts, to the tune of a whopping 60 per cent, a shift from trends witnessed earlier, it added.