The Monster Employment Index (MEI) has revealed that overall job postings have increased by 4% year-on-year in May 2021 vs May 2020. Hiring for the top management level professionals, with 16 or more years of work experience, witnessed a growth of 66% year-on-year in May 2021. While April 2021 witnessed a dip in job postings given the onset of the second wave of the pandemic, May 2021 showed green shoots of recovery, the survey noted. IT hiring in hardware and software witnessed a year-on-year growth of 67% in Bengaluru and 49% in Hyderabad in May. Industries that indicate the highest year-on-year growth in hiring across the key cities are banking/ financial services, insurance, and IT - hardware, software. Overall recruitment activities showed an uptick in most of the cities year-on-year.
Around 45% of the industries indicate positive month-on-month in May 2021 growth in job postings, with retail (24%), home appliances (13%), and telecom/ISP (10%) industries showing the highest growth. Indicating a downward trend, travel & tourism (-13%), import/ export (-11%), and printing/ packaging (-8%) continue to face the challenges of the pandemic with a decline in job postings. A year-on-year comparison shows hiring in 56% of the industries fared better in May 2021 as compared to the same period last year. IT - hardware, software (29%), logistics, courier/ freight/ transportation (25%) and telecom/ISP (23%) industries indicated the highest growth in job postings. However, travel & tourism job postings again showed a 49% year-on-year decline in May 2021.
A monthly comparison (May 2021 vs April 2021) shows growth in job postings at Kolkata (7%), Bengaluru (5%), Kochi (2%), and Pune (1%). Compared to April 2021, Ahmedabad (-10), Chandigarh (-6%), and Jaipur (-5%) witnessed a dip in job postings as of May 2021. Year-on-year data indicates that the tech hubs of India show promising growth in hiring, with cities such as Bengaluru (46%) and Hyderabad (26%) witnessing the highest growth in job postings.
On a month-on-month (May 2021 vs April 2021) basis, engineering/ production (7%), software, hardware, telecom (6%), and purchase/ logistics/ supply chain (3%) functions saw an increase in job postings. It could be the result of increased reliance on e-commerce, driven by the lockdowns across the country, MEI stated. However, hiring in hospitality & travel (-9%), customer service (-6%), and arts/creative (-4%) functions declined during the same period.
Top management professionals (20%), mid-senior professionals (1%), and intermediate roles (1%) witnessed positive month-on-month growth, while entry-level jobs saw a dip in demand by 2%. Senior management professionals (11-15 years), mid-senior professionals (7-10 years), and intermediate roles (4-6 years) saw year-on-year growth of 14%, 20%, and 13% respectively. However, job postings for entry-level profiles (0-3 years) declined by 11%.
Sekhar Garisa, CEO of Monster.com said, "It is promising to see an improvement in hiring despite the impact of the second wave of the pandemic. Industries and functions have now learned to adapt to the current situation and hence the disruption is lesser in the hiring plans. Some industries have significant tailwinds due to the new normal and are flourishing in the new, dynamic environment. With government & organisations across the board working on an aggressive vaccination program, we are hopeful for quicker restoration of normalcy and accelerated hiring scenario.”