Data reveals limited options for unemployed job seekers

CareerBuilder recently shared findings from its latest survey about how the pandemic and its economic fallout continue to shape the workforce. The data shows that across worker groups, pay cuts are common and work from home is not a universal option.

• Many would take less pay to rejoin the workforce: A third of overall respondents, 45% of Black Americans and 49% of unemployed women said they would accept a 10% pay cut in order to be employed.
• 34% of women resigned or reduced work hours due to personal responsibilities, including caregiving and schooling; non-white women were the most impacted.
• Women are driving work from home: 22% of women said they would turn down a job that didn’t offer it (compared to 13% of men). 36% of women applied to a job outside their geographic region based on remote work expectations (compared to 27% of men).
• But work from home isn’t playing out equally across race: 67% of Black and Hispanic women stated they had not applied to a job outside of their geographic region. Just 18% of Black Americans would turn down a job if it didn’t allow a work from home option.
• 26% of 18-to-24-year-olds said they would turn down a job if it didn’t offer a remote work option. Of that same age group, nearly half (49%) have applied for a job outside of their geographic region with expectations of future work from home flexibility.

Even with vaccine rollouts and gradual economic recovery, pandemic-related job loss continues to have a major impact on specific and disproportionately affected worker groups. “Women in dual households with children have usually been the parent forced to quit their jobs to become caregivers, because they typically make less than their male partner. This exacerbates a long-standing pay and promotion discrepancy for women,” said CareerBuilder CEO Irina Novoselsky. “As companies begin to financially recover and build up their workforces, they will need to focus on equitable pay and include initiatives that support employees’ home-life needs, remote working and other modes of flexibility where remote work is not feasible.” Remote work insights

• A quarter of job seekers would actually turn down a job offer if it did not allow a work from home option in the current environment.
• A third of job seekers have applied for a job outside of their geographic region with the expectation they would be able to work from home.

“For employers, offering more flexible working environments can widen their talent pipelines and help ensure they are keeping pace with shifting expectations,” said Novoselsky. “At CareerBuilder, we are focused on providing companies with resources to support their remote or hybrid environments. Diversity and inclusion remain job seeker priorities

• Five times as many women report feeling discriminated against due to their gender as compared to men.
• Among all respondents, almost half said they have felt discriminated against in some way in the workplace (46%) or in the hiring process (46%).
• 61% of job seekers said that a potential employer’s commitment to diversity and inclusion is either “very important” or “extremely important” when determining whether to work there.

“Both the pandemic and a national social justice movement have highlighted the need for systemic change. We are seeing more focused roles like Chief Diversity Officers, goals related to inclusion for leadership, and a shift in hiring practices that emphasizes employees’ skillsets above their job history — a trend which can help industries diversify their talent pipeline,” said Novoselsky. “For too long, qualified people have been overlooked due to a lack of specialized experience, not by virtue of what skills and innovative thinking they can bring. When job seekers lean into their skillset and set their sights on new industries, and when companies keep up, we chip away at the resume walls between sectors and empower a resilient workforce more representative of our population.”