Job listings requiring Covid-19 vaccination soared in late August, career site says

‘Time will tell how much further this trend goes,’ says economist explaining the numbers produced by Indeed Hiring Labs

Job listings requiring vaccination against Covid-19 have dramatically increased, according to a career website.

The rise is believed to be connected to the Food and Drug Administration granting full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on 23 August. Following its approval, vaccine mandates from employers and businesses were expected to become more common.

The White House has thrown its support behind the idea of employers requiring their staffs to be fully vaccinated against Covid.

“I’m calling on more companies in the private sector to step up with vaccine requirements that will reach millions more people,” President Joe Biden said last month.

On 9 September, President Joe Biden is expected to announce plans to implement a vaccine mandate for all federal workers.

Last month, Mr Biden said, “I’m calling on more companies in the private sector to step up with vaccine requirements that will reach millions more people.”

It appears the private sector heeded Mr Biden’s call. In the week ending on 30 August, “the share of postings per million specifically requiring vaccination against Covid-19 rose 119 per cent”, according to Indeed Hiring Labs.

Along with this, there was an uptick in job ads that requested candidates be vaccinated, but did not explicitly state against Covid. According to the website, the share of these postings per million was “up 242 per cent over the same period”.

In addition, some job ads promoted potential staff having the Covid vaccine, but did not make it mandatory, as the website read: “In the seven days ending August 30, the share of job postings per million recommending vaccines jumped over 40 per cent.”

Arizona was the state with the most jobs requiring vaccination, with a total of 1.3 per cent. The top vaccine requiring sectors were personal care, childcare and community and social work. However, media, law and research roles were also high ranking.

According to the site, some jobseekers actively looked for jobs with no vaccine requirement. Indeed Hiring Labs reported that 58 per cent of those were in the nursing sector.

AnnElizabeth Konkel, an labour market focused economist at Indeed’s Hiring lab, said, “As the Delta variant wreaks havoc, vaccination rates are increasing. But, with winter ahead, some employers are taking matters into their own hands by mandating vaccination. Job postings requiring vaccination are spread across a variety of sectors and geographic locations. Time will tell how much further this trend goes.”

The Delta variant is currently the dominant strain of covid in the US, and is more contagious than previous iterations of the virus. However, vaccinations against Covid-19 sharply reduce the likelihood of hospitalisation and death.