Hiring activities increase 12 pc m-o-m in August: Naukri JobSpeak Index

Meanwhile, industries such as medical and healthcare with a decline of just 1 per cent, telecom with nine per cent, IT-hardware 25 per cent and BPO/ITeS with a 26 per cent dip remained less impacted in terms of hiring. Being at the forefront in battling the pandemic, the pharmaceuticals and biotech witnessed a growth of 15 per cent with a positive demand for professionals in August compared to the same month in 2019.

Hiring activities are steadily increasing in sync with the gradually unlock measures taken by the Centre and state governments, with a 12 percent improvement in job postings at 1,413 in August as compared to the previous month, according to Naukri JobSpeak Index. The month-on-month (m-o-m) improvement in job postings indicates that hiring activities are in sync with unlocking measures that are aimed at reviving economic activities.

However, on a year-on-year basis, hiring is still down by 35 percent in August, showed the Index. The Naukri JobSpeak is a monthly index that calculates and records hiring activities based on the job listings on the Naukri.com website month-on-month Further, the Index showed that there seems to be no respite for the hospitality and travel industries, which continue to be the most impacted sectors with an annual decline of 80 percent.

Oil and gas or power saw a decline of 59 percent, retail 54 percent, and accounting or taxation or finance 46 percent in hiring activities during August compared to the same month last year. Meanwhile, industries such as medical and healthcare with a decline of just 1 percent, telecom with nine percent, IT-hardware 25 percent, and BPO/ITeS with a 26 percent dip remained less impacted in terms of hiring.

Being at the forefront in battling the pandemic, the pharmaceuticals and biotech witnessed a growth of 15 percent with a positive demand for professionals in August compared to the same month in 2019. Interestingly, the demand for roles in the banking and insurance segment remains stable, it added.

Given the intensity of the coronavirus pandemic in metro cities, the hiring activities in metros declined 38 percent more than the national average of 35 percent in August. Hiring activities in Mumbai dipped by 44 percent, Chennai by 41 percent, and Delhi-NCR saw a 40 percent decline.

However, smaller cities such as Jaipur with a decline of 23 percent, Vadodara by 23 percent, and Chandigarh by 15 percent were the least impacted. Recruitment across the board declined at varying experience levels with the entry-level experience bands (0-3 years of experience) witnessing the sharpest decline of 38 percent in August as compared to the year-ago month.

Even the leadership hiring with 16 years of experience grew 11 percent sequentially, it said. "It is encouraging to see the month-on-month progressive growth in hiring from the past three months as a result of the nationwide unlocking," Naukri.com Chief Business Officer Pawan Goyal added.

He added that while the pharmaceuticals and medical, IT, and BPO/ITeS sectors continue to spearhead hiring, other key sectors like telecom, retail, and real estate are also signaling a strong recovery in August compared to July. "We are hopeful that the recoveries will become more robust in the coming months." PTI SM HRS.