Hiring activity by Indian organisations is bouncing back after the disruption caused by the second COVID wave in April, according to the latest Naukri JobSpeak report. The country’s premier index on India’s hiring trends grew by 15% in June’21 vs. May’21, going up to 2,359 in June from 2,047 in May. The month witnessed improvement in hiring across several key industries as well as functional areas. This is an indication of resilience and recovery of hiring activity across the country, especially after the nosedive of 15% in April’21 and then flattening out in May’21, primarily due to the pandemic.
Sectors severely hit by restrictions show growth. Retail, Hospitality and Travel emerge as strong contenders. There has been a substantial recovery of hiring activity in Hotels/Restaurants/Airlines/Travel (+87%) and Retail (+57%) sectors in June’21 vs May’21, thanks to the relaxation of pandemic-related restrictions on movement. Sectors such as Insurance (+38%), Banking/Financial Services (+29%) and Pharma/Biotech (+22%) have also shown recovery from their recent slump. Other sectors like FMCG (+22%), Education/Teaching (+15%) and BPO/ITES (+14%) saw positive sequential upswing in June’21 vs May’21.
A double-digit growth in hiring activity in almost all regions after near negative growth last month indicates uniform revival of the job market. Pune (+10%), Hyderabad (+10%) and Bangalore (+4%) maintained their recent uptrend as they continue to fulfill the demand for skilled personnel in the IT sector. Other metro cities like Delhi/NCR and Kolkata, which were negatively impacted in May ‘21, have recorded a 26% and 24% growth respectively. Among the tier-II cities, Jaipur (+50%) and Vadodara (+29%) were the best performers, providing further hope to aspirational job seekers in these areas.
Commenting on the report, Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer, Naukri.com said, “The strong recovery of the hiring sector at 15% in June ‘21, close on the heels of a decline in May ‘21 is encouraging. It is heartening to see sectors such as Hospitality (+87%) and Retail (+57%) responding positively after being impacted by the second Covid-19 wave.” Speaking on the performance of the IT sector, he adds, “Hiring in this sector has seen a 5% sequential month-on-month growth and more than 52% increase from June’19.”
