The global packaging industry experienced a 39% drop in new job postings related to environmental sustainability in Q2 2023 compared with the previous quarter, according to GlobalData’s Job Analytics. This compares to a 7% decrease versus Q2 2022. Environmental Sustainability is a priority in most of the industries today including Packaging. GlobalData’s ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) Top Trends by Sector – Thematic Research report assesses the impact of ESG by identifying key trends, company filings, and hiring pattern across 16 key sectors.
Notably, Production Occupations jobs accounted for a 14% share of the global packaging industry’s environmental sustainability-related total new job postings in Q2 2023, down 34% over the prior quarter.
Production Occupations drive environmental sustainability-related hiring activity
Production Occupations, with a share of 14%, emerged as the top environmental sustainability-related job roles within the packaging industry in Q2 2023, with new job postings drop by 34% quarter-on-quarter. Management Occupations came in second with a share of 13% in Q2 2023, with new job postings dropping by 4% over the previous quarter.
The other prominent environmental sustainability roles include Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations with a 9% share in Q2 2023, Architecture and Engineering Occupations with a 6% share of new job postings.
Top five companies in packaging industry accounted for 51% of hiring activity
The top companies, in terms of number of new job postings tracked by GlobalData, as of Q2 2023 were International Paper, Ardagh Metal Packaging, Ardagh Group, PCA Denver, and DS Smith. Together they accounted for a combined share of 51% of all environmental sustainability-related new jobs in the packaging industry.
International Paper posted 1,073 environmental sustainability-related new jobs in Q2 2023, Ardagh Metal Packaging 319 jobs, Ardagh Group 260 jobs, PCA Denver 230 jobs, and DS Smith 195 jobs, according to GlobalData’s Job Analytics.
Hiring activity was driven by the US with a 71.55% share of total new job postings, Q2 2023
The largest share of environmental sustainability-related new job postings in the packaging industry in Q2 2023 was in the US with 71.55% followed by the UK (8.81%) and Canada (4.81%). The share represented by the US was five percentage points lower than the 76.76% share it accounted for in Q1 2023.