Hiring activity in India’s white collar job market showed resilience in December despite slowdowns in some key sectors, according to Naukri JobSpeak, a leading job index, for the month of December.
According to the data put together by online jobs platform Naukri.com, hiring activity in December ended 4% higher compared to the same month a year ago despite global macroeconomic headwinds. The momentum generated in the beginning of 2022 sustained into the second half of this year compared to the first half of 2022.
However, a sector-wise analysis comparing Dec’22 to the first half of 2022 reveals a mixed trend. The growth in domestic economy driven sectors and non-metro cities has offset the slowdown seen in IT & BPO, resulting in sequential stability at aggregate level.
In addition, non-metro cities continued to outpace larger IT dependent markets. Ahmedabad led the list with 39% growth, followed by Vadodara at 29%, and Jaipur at 16%. Among the top-tier metro cities, Delhi and NCR and Mumbai witnessed 12% growth in hiring activity compared to the monthly average of the first half of the year. Similar trend was observed for Kolkata as well where new jobs created grew by 3%. On the contrary, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru, largely dependent on IT sector, showed a decline of -4%, -7%, -11%, -15% respectively.
Further, the data found that demand for senior professionals has risen. The long-term demand for professionals across levels was stable throughout the year. Professionals having 16-plus years reported 26% of growth and the 13-16 years of experience segment rose by 15%. However, the largest segment that comprises freshers and mid-experience professionals remained flat.
Commenting on the report, Pawan Goyal, chief business officer, Naukri.com, said: “The Indian job market exhibited favourable hiring activity in 2022, with a 20% increase in new job creation compared to the full year base of 2021. However, we do witness a correction in key sectors like IT and BPO towards the latter half of the year currently being offset by hiring activity uptick in Non-IT sectors like insurance, banking and real estate. This reaffirms the multi-sectoral and balanced footprint of the Indian white-collar job market. As we enter 2023, the positive trends observed in non-IT sectors and smaller cities, keep us watchful yet optimistic with respect to 2023.”