There's a noticeable demographic distinction between healthcare's workforce and its senior leadership, according to recent data from the LinkedIn Economic Graph.
Women hold 55 percent of senior leadership roles in hospitals and healthcare. That figure is promising at surface level — it's the highest percentage noted across 15 sectors, including consumer services and education.
However, hospitals and healthcare also have the most female workers of any industry studied, with women composing 70 percent of the workforce.
That's a 15 percentage-point gap separating women, who dominate the healthcare workforce, from the industry's highest leadership roles. It is the second-largest distinction across all industries studied, behind real estate and equipment rental services (19 percentage-point gap) and ahead of financial services (13 percentage-point gap).
The trend was consistent across every industry LinkedIn tracked. In February, women held 38 percent of the United States' leadership roles, despite composing more than half of the census.
For the past four months, women have outpaced men in the return to the workforce after losing nearly 12 million jobs during COVID-19. The jury is out on how — and if — those gains will translate to the corporate ladder.