Women filled nearly half of new hedge fund ESG jobs worldwide – study

Nearly half of ESG specialists hired by hedge funds globally — 49.6% — were women over the two years ended Dec. 31, a study from consulting and recruitment firm Kronor Group showed.

By comparison, women accounted for only 28.6% of total hedge fund hires globally, showed the analysis of more than 10,000 hedge fund hires during the two year period.

Kronor Group's "2022 Hedge Fund ESG Hiring Report" showed that by geographic region, the rate of hiring of women continued for all environmental, social and governance roles continued to outpace that of male employees, with the exception of the Europe/U.K. region

In the U.S. and Canada, women accounted for 50.3% of ESG hedge fund hires, but trailed men in terms of total hedge fund hires at 29%.

In Asia (ex-Australia), 66.7% of ESG jobs went to women, while 69.3% of total hedge fund hires were men.

In Europe/U.K., 44.8% of ESG jobs went to women and 73.8% of total hedge fund hires were filled by men.

The analysis of global ESG hedge fund hiring trends was done by HFObserver, a platform that aggregates data about personnel moves with a focus on ESG, and diversity, equity and inclusion in alternative investments. HFObserver is a unit of Kronor Group.

The study by HFObserver found that ESG hires accounted for about 3.5% of total hedge fund hires over the two-year period.

From another angle, an analysis of the hiring rate of ESG-focused investment professionals found that 45.6% of hires in the U.S./Canada were women; 42.2% in Europe/U.K.; and 66.7% in Asia (ex Australia).

In contrast, the female share of total hedge fund investment management hires over the two-year period was much lower at 17.3% in the U.S./Canada; 16.4% in Europe/U.K.; and 26.2% in Asia (ex-Australia).

The report's authors also analyzed ESG hiring in the U.S. by race, noting that 62.9% of ESG jobs went to white candidates compared with 64.9% for total hedge fund hires.

ESG roles filled by Black candidates totaled 7.9% of hires compared with 2.7% for total hedge fund jobs, while 21.9% of ESG jobs went to Asian candidates compared with 25% of total hedge fund hires.

People of Hispanic heritage accounted for 5.3% of ESG hires and 4.5% of overall hedge fund recruitment, and people in the "other" category represented 2% of ESG jobs filled vs. 2.9% of total hedge fund jobs.