Hiring activity exceeds pre-Covid level, grows 6% in March

As India’s economy recovers from Covid-19, the hiring demand across major cities saw a 6% year-on-year growth in March 2022 but declined 2.4% on a month-on-month basis, primarily due to the appraisal season, the Monster Employment Index (MEI) showed.

BFSI, telecom and manufacturing sectors continued to show late teen and high double-digit growths, while tech and human resources saw maximum job postings. The entry-level job hiring also saw an 8% increase in hiring, the index showed.

In March 2022, the online recruitment activity exceeded the year-ago level in 11 out of the 13 cities monitored by the index. All metros registered a double-digit growth on an annual basis, it said.

The index showed Mumbai to be the biggest job market, closely followed by Coimbatore. Mumbai, up 21%, led all the monitored cities for the first time yearly, followed by Coimbatore, up 20%, and Chennai and Hyderabad (up 16% each).

E-recruitment activity in Bengaluru (up 15%) charted a positive trend but weakened from previous months, the data showed. While Pune recorded a 12% growth in e-recruitment, Kolkata and Delhi-NCR registered a growth of 13% each.

Sekhar Garisa, CEO - Monster.com, a Quess company, said the Indian economy has overcome setbacks and challenges with hiring momentum exceeding pre-Covid levels by 6% this year compared to 2020. "Sectors such as banking and telecom have undoubtedly contributed to the overall revitalisation of employment generation in the country. It is also encouraging to see a substantial rise in business activity across tier-2 cities," said Garisa.

BFSI leads as a growth driver

Hiring demand in March 2022 was driven by banking or financial services and insurance (BFSI), which grew 37%, followed by telecom or internet providers (up 17%), and production and manufacturing (up 16%).

Jobs also rebounded for hospitality and travel (up 11%) after a long time and experienced significantly improved demand levels annually, the index showed.

Engineering sector down

Hiring activity in engineering, cement, construction, and iron or steel sectors dipped 20% in March on a YoY basis since April 2020, registering the sharpest deceleration among sectors. The pace of the growth moderated for media and entertainment, down 16% and FMCG, food and packaged food at 13% decline, the MEI data showed.

High demand in tech, finance, HR

IT-hardware and software, HR and admin, along with finance and accounts job roles, marked a double-digit growth in all metros. More companies hired top management level employees, up 34% followed by mid-senior level, up 22%, intermediate level, up 20% and senior-level, up 13%. Entry-level jobs also saw a growth of 8% on the back of campus hiring steeping, the data showed.

"In BFSI, roles in the financial statement, wealth management, investment banking and cyber-security have seen increased job openings. In terms of tech jobs, the emergence of the metaverse and its potential applications has created a lot of career opportunities in new skill areas," a statement said.

The Monster Employment Index is a monthly analysis of online job posting activity conducted by Monster India.