With a 40% surge in participation, women to drive the gig economy in new India: apna
Mumbai: apna.co, India’s largest professional networking and jobs platform dedicated to the rising workforce, has seen a growth of 40% in female users in Q2 2021 due to the increasing demand of work home jobs & part-time jobs. With the rise of the gig economy, a dramatic shift in the work, workforce, workplace, and work culture has been witnessed. As compared to last quarter women participation has seen a rise of 17% in tele-calling, 13% in sales, 12% in accounts and 10% in teaching in part-time jobs. apna aims to double the women’s workforce participation by the end of 2021 as an integral part of its mission to accelerate India’s growth.
The key factor behind the rise of women participation in gig workers is flexible work hours for them, convenience, higher unit pay, and greater efficiencies. In the last six months, more than 2.5 lakh women applied for work from home jobs at leading companies including Byju’s, Teamlease, and Shadowfax, among others on the platform. Unlike traditional means, the assurance of providing 100% verified jobs, seamless multilingual app interface, and easy-to-use digital technology has contributed to the increase. Dedicated features like work from home and part-time jobs enabled women to connect with the right opportunities as per their interest and skill set. Due to the flexibility at work, 10% more women are applying for part-time jobs as compared to full-time jobs.
Committed to bolster the women workforce participation, Nirmit Parikh, CEO and Founder, apna, said, “In the first year of the pandemic starting March 2020, nearly 20 lakh metropolitan women reverse migrated to their hometowns. Backed by superior technology, apna aims to be the catalyst in connecting them with increasing opportunities including flexible work arrangements. As a disruptive Indian start-up, we aim to serve the country and contribute to the gig economy by boosting employment for Indian women. Through apna, the rising women workforce will get a digital professional identity for the first time and they will continuously upgrade their skills and find the best jobs.”
World over, the pandemic has led to a drop in female employment by 13 million than that in 2019. The male employment, however, is recovering to pre-pandemic levels, as per International Labour Organisation’s World Employment and Social Outlook report.
With apna app, women candidates can now skip the traditional methods of physically applying to a job. They can in 48 hours find the most suitable opportunity as per their skills, interest area, and remuneration. Over 18 lakh jobs are available on the platform in 70+ categories across India. apna is also empowering the rising women workforce of India with the power of professional networking. It has enabled users to identify hyperlocal, informal, part-time, job opportunities through different interest-based communities as well.