Jobs in the small city

The last fiscal year saw tier II and III cities recording a share of over 60% in total job creation in India, according to an Assocham study. The study also forecast that tier II and III cities are likely to generate 40% more jobs in the near future. While 17 tier II cities like Pune, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Lucknow and Surat cornered a 38.8% share in creating 253,702 jobs, 33 tier III cities like Allahabad, Udaipur, Agra, Ajmer, Kota and Meerut accounted for a 23% share with 150,391 new jobs in the past year.

In recent years, tier I cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore have emerged as the fastest job generators, but this trend is clearly changing. Among tier II cities, Pune has emerged as the lead employment provider with a share of 21.5%, followed by Lucknow and Pondicherry, with a share of 15.5% and 11.5%, respectively. Ranchi was the lead employment provider among tier III cities in FY 2010-11, with a share of 17.8%, followed by Mangalore, with a share of 13.9%. The five sectors that generated most employment in Ranchi were energy, construction, metals, electronics and telecommunications. In Pune, the sectors were IT, ITeS, banking, education and auto.