Hiring activity in India has witnessed a recovery, growing by 15% in June 2021 compared to May 2021, after the disruption caused by the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Naukri JobSpeak report, the month of June saw 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,” the report stated.
Buoyed by the demand from Indian organisations to use IT to overcome business challenges, the IT-Software/Software Services sector grew 5% in June’21 compared to May’21. Not only did this sector continue its recent surge of 14% in May’21, but it achieved an all-time high growth of 52% as compared to pre-COVID levels in June’19, said the report, adding that tech hiring has remained relatively insular to the effects of the pandemic due to the impact of rapid digitisation of organisations.
There has been a substantial recovery of hiring activity in hotels/restaurants/airlines/
As per the report, 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 Bengaluru (+4%) maintained their recent uptrend as they continue to fulfil the demand for skilled personnel in the IT sector. Other metro cities like Delhi/NCR and Kolkata, which were negatively impacted in May’21, recorded a 26% and 24% growth respectively, the report added.
In a sign of rebuilding by Indian organisations, hiring across all functional areas also improved significantly, with roles in marketing/advertising/PR (+39%), sales/BD (+32%), HR/administration (+31%) and banking/insurance (+31%) growing the most. The Naukri JobSpeak index reported a 4% increase in demand for tech professionals as IT companies continue to hire talented professionals in 2021. Hiring for teaching roles (+9%) also saw growth in June’21 vs May’21.
Hiring for all experience bands increased as organisations began to augment their employee base to handle growth. The 0-3 years band saw a 22% growth, which is cause for cheer for younger job seekers, as against the negative growth in May’21. Similarly, movement of senior professionals was also robust as the 13-16 years (+11%), 8-12 years (+8%) and 16+ years (+10%) categories witnessed double digit growth.
“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’s heartening to see sectors such as Hospitality (+87%) and Retail (+57%) responding positively after being impacted by the second Covid-19 wave,” said Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer, Naukri.com.