Retail and tourism workers are considering switching industries en masse on social media platform LinkedIn, the social media giant has said in a new report.
While hours worked across Australia’s economy are still well down on average in the wake of COVID-19, real-time data sources are starting to show green shoots in job ads.
But the immediate future of the jobs market is shaping up very differently on social media platform LinkedIn, where workers in industries hit hard by the pandemic are looking to jump ship for greener pastures.
In a report published Tuesday, LinkedIn said those who had worked in the recreational and travel industries are five times more likely to be looking for new jobs outside of those areas in the wake of the pandemic.
Workers who had jobs at consumer goods (retail) companies are 1.5 times more likely than before to be applying for jobs outside their current industry.
Adam Gregory, senior director of talent solutions at LinkedIn Australia, said the shift indicates many workers are looking to transition their careers.
“A big part of the labour market recovery will be transitioning workers from industries that have been hard hit by the crisis into new and different roles,” Gregory said in a statement.
SOURCE: LINKEDIN
Data cited by the report covers the period from February 11, as the coronavirus outbreak first ramped up in Australia, through to June 5.
A secondary data point, encapsulating figures collected over the second half of May, found a generational split among how confident workers are feeling about their job prospects.
LinkedIn members in the Generation X age group are the most confident about their prospects in the job market in the wake of the pandemic, LinkedIn found, while Baby Boomers and Gen Z are feeling the least confident.