The Indian job market bounced back to pre-festive levels in November. As per a leading job portal, the country’s premier job index emerged at 3106 for November, up from 2455 in October, registering a 27 per cent M-O-M growth and 43 per cent Y-O-Y growth. While all looks good on the whole, following the recovery post the festive season, a sector-level analysis shows mixed trends compared to the boom experienced in the first half of this year when high growth in hiring activity was witnessed.
The IT sector, as expected, experienced an eight per cent decline in hiring compared to the monthly average for the first half of the year. This slowdown was primarily evident in the startup ecosystem. However, dip wasn’t that drastic. Hiring has slowed down in the education sector by six per cent, and in the retail sector by seven per cent.
The insurance sector registered 42 per cent growth in new jobs created compared to the monthly average for the first half of the year. Sectors such as banking (+34 per cent), real estate (+31%), oil (+24%), travel & hospitality (+20%) and auto (+14%) also continued to exhibit a positive and upward hiring trend, while pharma, BPO and telecom remained flattish.
Delhi-NCR remained ahead with 20 per cent growth in new jobs compared to the monthly average for the first half of the year. Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai showed a similar pattern, with new jobs growing by about 17, 10 and 8 per cent, respectively. Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune and other metros with greater inclination towards the IT sector, posted a flat job market with growth of -1, -5 and 2 per cent, respectively.
Amongst non-metros, Ahmedabad outshone with 33 per cent growth, followed by Vadodara at 23 per cent, Jaipur at 15 per cent, and Coimbatore at 8 per cent growth. Kochi and Chandigarh remained stagnant.
The long-term demand for professionals across all experience levels remained stable. A high growth of 21 per cent was seen for senior professionals with over 12 years of experience. The growth for jobs requiring 8-12 years of experience also rose by 11 per cent. The hiring was flat for junior talent with less than two years of experience.
