With businesses across sectors taking a hit due to Covid-19, India’s job market had a rough phase during the lockdown months earlier this year. However, the easing of the lockdown in the last few months is gradually opening up the economy and has, subsequently, improved the job market across industries. As per the latest report from the staffing firm, TeamLease Services, while large companies continue to lead in the overall ‘intent to hire,’ it is the small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) that has recorded a significant growth during the ongoing December quarter.
The hiring intent of SMEs has nearly doubled (over 6%) during the October-December period compared to April-September, indicating a recovery in businesses, noted the TeamLease Employment Outlook report, adding that the overall ‘intent to hire’ seems to be moving in the upward direction. Metros and tier-1 cities are likely to benefit significantly from the unlock initiatives while the rural market is muted.
The report highlighted that among sectors, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, educational services, e-commerce, tech startups, and knowledge process outsourcing (KPOs) have indicated a recovery of the employment scenario with a positive hiring intent.
“India Inc is on a gradual recovery path. Though we are yet to reach the pre-Covid-19 levels, the economy is rebounding and this cautious optimism is reflecting in the hiring scenario as well. Most of the sectors intend to ramp up their hiring. While signs are encouraging, still too early to predict how Q4 shall pan out given traditionally it is a tepid hiring quarter,” said Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder and executive vice president, TeamLease Services.
The optimism is not restricted to sectors, the intent to hire across hierarchies is also on a positive growth trajectory. More than 30% of the respondents indicated intent to hire talent at senior levels. Respondents were also keen on ramping up their mid-level (20%) and junior- level (18%) talent. But the biggest growth in hiring intent has been at the entry level.
The TeamLease Employment Outlook report is based on surveys conducted across 14 cities and 21 sectors in India covering 137 companies including SMEs and large enterprises. The statistics for the October-December quarter is based on the surveys and analysis carried out during the preceding month of September.
Recently a report by technology industry trade body Nasscom indicated that tech startups are increasingly looking at hiring talent with the right competencies. As per the findings of the Nasscom survey, hiring freeze at tech startups dropped by 20%. Jobs with the right skills continue to be in demand. Digital skills such as data, AI, product management, and cloud architects continue to be in high demand across the tech startup ecosystem.