Good News For Jobs Seekers! Hiring Activities Increase By 24% In SeptemberAmong metro cities, Pune has been leading the pack followed by Hyderabad and Chennai

The past seven months have been difficult for both employers and job seekers. According to a CMIE report, around 5 million salaried Indians lost their jobs in July alone. While employers had to worry about paying their existing employees despite no or negative profits, job seekers had to run from pillar to post to secure a job to pay bills.

However, with signs of the economy recovering, hiring activities have increased by 24 per cent in September compared with last month. According to a report called Naurki Job Speak Index, the sectors that are contributing to the increased hiring are pharmaceuticals by 44 per cent, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) by 43 per cent, education/teaching by 41 per cent and information technology (IT) by 32 per cent..

Apart from these sectors, the resumption of mobility in the unlock phases has propelled hiring activities in real estate, auto/ancillary and hospitality/travel in comparison to August.

The report highlighted that metro cities which were under pressure due to multiple lockdown phases are now exhibiting strong double digits growth in September compared to August. Pune topped the list with 26 per cent and was followed by Hyderabad and Chennai at 24 per cent. Interestingly, Bengaluru which is considered to be the hub of IT sector lagged with 14 per cent growth. Among tier II cities, Ahmedabad saw a surge of 34 per cent, whereas Chandigarh and Jaipur witnessed 39 per cent and 36 per cent rise in hiring activities, respectively.

Hiring grew across the board in terms of experience bands with the demand for mid-management professionals with 8-12 years experience up by 27 per cent versus last month followed by 0-3 years of experience by 25 per cent; 4-7 years of experience by 23 per cent; 13-16 years of experience by 24 per cent and less than 16 years of experience by 19 per cent.

Commenting on the report, Pawan Goyal, chief business officer, Naukri.com said, "The last quarter has seen significant uptick in the hiring activity, growing at 14 per cent compared to 8 per cent decline in AMJ' 20. While the hiring is yet to touch last year levels and is down by 23 per cent in September 2020 versus September 2019 but this is also a marked recovery from a 35-60 per cent decline that we have witnessed in the last few months. Businesses that are leveraging digital channels for dissemination and consumption of goods and services are thriving and will continue to do so as we imbibe social distancing norms in our daily lives. With increased mobility and focus on health, we are hopeful that hiring activity will further improve in sectors like travel, hospitality, medical/healthcare, insurance and financial services."

Though the hiring activities have increased lately, there is a sharp decline of 23 per cent compared with last year's September. Hiring in metro cities has declined with Mumbai seeing a plunge by 35 per cent, Delhi NCR 33 per cent and Bengaluru at 33 per cent.