Hiring intent for July-Sept quarter rises to 61 pc: Report

A rise in public investment in the production-linked incentive schemes (PLI) has resulted in a growth in hiring intent for July-September as 61 percent of companies surveyed said they are keen to hire more, according to a report.

The overall intent to hire witnessed a 7 percentage point increase during July-September to 61 percent from 54 percent during the April-June quarter, according to the TeamLease Employment Outlook Report.

Metro and tier I geographies top the intent to hire, witnessing an increase of 6 percentage points for the forthcoming quarter (rising to 89 percent) compared to the previous quarter, it said.

Tier-II cities, on the other hand, witness an even higher increase (7 percent) in the intent to hire and rises to 62 percent for the coming quarter, while tier III cities show an increase of 3 percent to 37 percent from 34 percent during April-June quarter, it revealed.

According to the report, rural geography will witness a nominal rise of 2 percent.

The TeamLease Employment Outlook Report is based on a survey that covered nearly 900 small, medium and large companies across 23 sectors and 14 cities.

The report further revealed that from a city perspective, Delhi (72 percent) followed by Mumbai (59 percent) and Chennai (55 percent) are the most promising cities in the manufacturing sector.

From a services sector perspective, the top cities are Bangalore (97 percent), Mumbai (81 percent), and Delhi (68 percent), it added.

Sharing insights about the hiring sentiment in the industry, TeamLease executive director and co-founder Rituparna Chakraborty said, overall the ecosystem is taking a progressive turn, with more organizations projecting the intent to increase their hiring.

''This optimism is largely influenced by increased public investment in PLI schemes, an advanced Rs 2.65 lakh crore stimulus package by the government to generate job opportunities and provide liquidity to sectors like tourism, aviation, and housing. ''With these factors, an increase in hiring sentiment is not only imminent but over the next few quarters, it is likely to cross the 70 percent mark as well," she said.

On the other hand, while few organizations may occasionally stall hiring due to the rise in Covid cases or possible restrictions due to the pandemic, there will not be any major recalibration in the overall hiring strategy, Chakraborty added.

The report revealed that with regards to intent to hire as per the business size, small companies witness the highest increase in hiring intent, that is 47 percent from 41 percent (an increase of 6 percent), as compared to medium and large-sized businesses with a 4 percent increase to 69 percent for the quarter.

Meanwhile, the forthcoming quarter brings good tidings for junior-level roles as the hiring intent for these roles sees a sharp rise to 61 percent from 51 percent in the last quarter, it noted.

Entry-level roles are also set to gain as well, with a 600 bps increase in hiring intent to 59 percent from the last quarter.

This is indicative of a spurt in job prospects across these two levels, for potential seekers, while the mid-level fares rather modestly as it shows an increase of 4 percent in hiring intent (currently 37 percent), the senior levels show a meager growth in intent to hire (2 percent), it said.

Hiring sentiment based on functionality, the report highlighted that engineering and Marketing roles showed a dramatic increase in the hiring intentions for the next quarter.

The hiring intent for engineering roles sees a staggering 13 percent increase to 70 percent, it added.

Additionally, it said hiring intent rises by a substantial 10 percent for marketing roles to 63 percent, sales, and information technology (IT) to see an increase in hiring intent by 8 percent to touch 90 percent and 83 percent, respectively.

In the blue-collar job roles, there is a significant 7 percent rise to 57 percent in the July-September quarter from 50 percent during the previous term, it said.

IT and sales remained the most in-demand job functions, but with employers stepping up their plans to hire for the other functions, the coming quarter is set to see increased levels of hiring for engineering, marketing, and blue-collar, it added.