Want a new job? Get vaccinated

The best way to protect yourself and others from COVID-19—and its new delta variant—is to get vaccinated. But a recent study may give you even more incentive. Because if you want a new job, being vaccinated may very well be a requirement.

The data comes courtesy of the job site Indeed, which notes that job postings specifically requiring COVID-19 vaccines are on the rise.

According to Indeed, “[T]he share of job postings per million that require being vaccinated against COVID-19 explicitly is up 34% compared to one month prior. Job postings that require vaccination but may not explicitly specify COVID-19 follow the same trend, up 90% over the same time period.”

Now, to be fair, the absolute number of job listings requiring a vaccine are still low. Roughly 0.1% of all listings on Indeed currently specify this requirement, and many are in fields you might expect, such as education and food preparation and service. However, the trend is growing rapidly on the site, and some sectors that rarely mandated vaccines just a few months ago are demanding them now.

Indeed points to software development as a prime example of this trend. As of February 2021, only 3.5 listings per every 1 million mentioned vaccine requirements. As of July, that figure ballooned to 437.9, which is an increase of 10,000%. Marketing and retail saw a similar, sudden expansion.

As of now, these trends show no evidence of slowing. Outside of Indeed’s data, just in the past few weeks we’ve seen Google, United Airlines, the U.S. military, and other prominent organizations announce COVID-19 vaccination requirements for their employees. So while some people still refuse to believe in the value of vaccines, perhaps they’ll believe in the value of money.