Job Market Reaching Pre Pandemic Levels; Upsurge Expected in the Coming Festive Quarter: Monster Employment Index

• Agritech, Retail, BFSI, Travel & Tourism & Import/Export continue to hire actively

• Across functional areas Finance, HR & Admin & Hospitality witness improved intent to hire

• Mumbai on the back of BFSI & Retail charted maximum hiring demand along with Ahmedabad & Coimbatore markets while Kolkata and Baroda saw dip in job posting activity

Recruitment activity flattened 3% across industry segments as India continued to pursue conscious hiring amid recession fears and inflation concerns. While festive demand is ongoing, jobs in India are expected to rebound in the coming quarter with positive workforce sentiments, as per Monster.com.

The Index saw decline this month, with a 2% month-on-month dip exhibiting a sluggish growth rate this month. However, several industries continued to post positive growth trends as the Indian economy continues to recover and open up post pandemic.

Apart from the Agro industry which posed a positive incline in online hiring activity, segments such as BFSI, Retail, Real Estate, Telecom, and Travel & Tourism have noted an annual growth in e-recruitment activity. Consequently, demand for roles across Finance & Accounts, HR & Admin, and Hospitality also saw an incline reflecting consistent demand for skilled talent across these segments.

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Commenting on job trends for the month of August 2022, Sekhar Garisa, CEO – Monster.com, a Quess company said, “While hiring has slowed down this August due to global economic concerns, we are optimistic that jobs will bounce back in India over the coming quarter with the ongoing festive season. Retail continues to do well with improved e-commerce sales and rising footfall across stores. Moreover, India continues on its tech adaptive journey with newer technologies and consequently newer skills in demand by recruiters. It is key that workforce upskilling be taken more seriously now than ever for career growth and overall economic progress in the country.”

Agro industry sees recovery with the rise of digital innovation in line with Indian Agriculture 4.0

In August 2022, agro based industries (up 6%) saw an incline in hiring activity on the back of the digital revolution with AI, automation, blockchain, and drone tech serving as key drivers in the space. The success of agriculture 4.0, much like Industry 4.0, depends on the efficient use of tech to tackle challenges that haunt the segment as a whole. As per the Index, industries such as BFSI (up 20%), Chemicals (up 14%), Real Estate (9%), Telecom/ISP (9%), and Travel (up 3%) continue to do well. Retail (up 5%) too has fared well with a rise in hiring activity in light of the ongoing festive season.

On the other hand, Shipping/Marine (down 24%), Media & Entertainment (down 19%), and Engineering/Cement/Construction (down 18%) continued to chart maximum annual decline in hiring activity indicating lowered demand for professionals in these segments. While the IT industry (down 8%) saw a hiring dip due to ongoing start-up layoffs, great resignations, and variable pay-out trends in the sector, BPO/ITES (down 4%) saw a similar dip which could be attributed to reduced hiring across metro cities. Education (down 10%) also noted a fall given the decline in hiring across the EdTech industry. Sectors such as Home Appliances (down 17%), Garments/Textiles (down 10%), and Production/Manufacturing (down 3%) exhibited negative growth patterns. While this indicates falling demand for white collar jobs, festive hiring sentiments remain high and tend to see more demand across temp, blue collar, and gig roles.

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 Hiring for white collar professionals continues to surge across metros

6 out of 13 cities monitored by the Index showcased positive job demand with Coimbatore (up 13%) charting maximum growth. Mumbai (up 11%) was the strongest annual gainer among major metro-markets while Ahmedabad (up 9%) reflected a relatively encouraging trend driven by major sectors like Retail, BFSI and Advertising. Hyderabad (up 3%) witnessed positive annual growth while hiring in Delhi-NCR and Pune stayed status-quo in August 2022.

Chennai (down 4%), Kochi (down 2%), Jaipur (down 2%) saw a marginal dip in recruitment activity, Bangalore (down 8%), Chandigarh (down 8%), Baroda (down 10%) and Kolkata (down 11%) registered a substantial annual fall owing to stagnant hiring across several industries.

HR & Admin roles more in demand as companies aim to improve L&D, employee engagement activities

In line with the rising demand for talent in the BFSI industry, professionals in Finance & Accounts (up 27%) exhibited maximum annual growth in the month of August 2022, similar to past trends. HR & Admin (up 15%) and Hospitality & Travel (up 3%) roles continue to be in high demand as well indicating a greater need for professionals in respective sectors. Interestingly, Arts & Creative (up 6%) which reflected a constant dip in the last months, recorded an all-time high on account of increased demand for creatives such as graphic and interior designers.

While Engineering/ Production (down 20%) continued to exhibit the steepest annual decline among all monitored functions, Customer Service (down 15%) and Purchase/ Logistics/ Supply Chain (down 13%) also saw a huge dip in August’22 from the year ago level. Moreover, Healthcare (down 12%), Sales & Business Development (down 10%), Marketing & Communications (down 8%), Software, Hardware, Telecom (down 7%) professionals saw consequent annual decline.