The number of job postings requiring applicants to have COVID-19 vaccinations has nearly doubled in the past month according to a report from the job search site Indeed.
The report shows in the first week of August, approximately 1,200 per million job postings required the applicant to have a vaccination. That number is double the 600 per million total from early July and well off the 50 per million number from early February.
"While the number of postings requiring a vaccine is still low, it’s a trend that’s really taking off," said Ann Elizabeth Konkel, Indeed economist and author of the report. "I think a growing number of employers are trying to keep workers safe and do not want to shut down again this winter. ... They see vaccines as the way out of this pandemic."
More than a dozen large U.S. corporations, including Walmart, Google, Tyson Foods, United Airlines, and McDonald’s, have recently announced vaccine mandates for some or all of their workers according to CNBC. The Pentagon on Monday said vaccines would be mandatory for service members by mid-September.
Konkel said the report includes multiple industry and employment sectors. The results show a growing trend in all areas, but none more telling than the software-development sector. The report indicated there was a 10,000% increase in July compared to February. The July figure was 438 job postings per 1 million requiring vaccination. In February, that number was just 3.5 job posts per million.
"Broadly, the trend is more job postings are requiring the COVID-19 vaccine," Konkel said. "I really think we’re on the cusp of a potentially booming trend."