Today, alongside Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester we proudly launched our inaugural ‘The Gendered Reality of Job-Seeking: Smart Works Index 2025 – Greater Manchester Focus’.This Index uses data from 743 women, out of the over 1,000 women supported by Smart Works Greater Manchester in 2025.This insight couldn’t be more timely.

Times are changing, and for many, they are becoming more challenging. Some communities feel this more sharply than others.Greater Manchester faces unique and urgent issues, including:

🔹 High numbers of young people who are NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training)

🔹 Deep‑rooted indices of deprivation that shape opportunity across generations

🔹 Barriers to employment that disproportionately affect women, from caring responsibilities and transport, to digital exclusion and the confidence gap.

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The Index highlights the gendered reality of job-seeking in Greater Manchester, is that:

🔹 Women are spending on average 24 hours a week looking for work

🔹 Women are applying for an average of 43 jobs before finding successful employment

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The Smart Works Effect in greater Manchester:

🔹 young women (16–24) made up to 26% of our clients in 2025

🔹 25% of the Greater Manchester population live in neighbourhoods ranked in the 10% most deprived in England, and postcode analysis shows that 38% of our clients live in these neighbourhoods

🔹 64% of the women supported by Smart Works Greater Manchester go on to get a job

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What this Index gives us:

🔹 Guidance on how to make scalable adjustments, that would help employers find talent more effectively, and prevent capable women from being filtered out before their potential is recognised.

🔹 Evidence. Insight. A platform for change.

🔹 It strengthens our ability to advocate for the women we support and helps us influence the people shaping our region, from local government and councils to employers and corporate partners.

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Yet, despite this data, the most powerful moment of today's launch wasn’t the data at all, it was the lived experience shared by our Smart Works Greater Manchester client, Andrea, who said: “From the moment I entered Smart Works Greater Manchester, I felt seen”.

If Greater Manchester is serious about inclusive growth, women must be at the centre of that conversation.

That is why this Index matters.

That is why we will keep pushing for change.

And that is why today is only the beginning.

A heartfelt thank you to Morson Group for sponsoring this Index. Your support enables us to amplify our message and reach more women with the work we do. With huge thanks to Matillion for hosting us in such a fantastic space, and to 360 UK Business Solutions for printing it.

Click here to read the full Index: https://lnkd.in/eS-Q_R_B