6% growth in job postings across industries in Feb 2021: Survey

There has been an increase in job posting activity in February 2021, with a six per cent growth compared to January 2021. Compared to February 2020, the overall index still shows a significant drop of 15 per cent, owing to the pandemic. However, the good news is that, in terms of the month-on-month growth, all industries have shown growth with import/export (10 per cent), FMCG, food & packaged goods (9 per cent), and printing and packaging (9 per cent) witnessing significant increase in job postings in February 2021, as compared to January 2021. Although several industries are still at a decline compared to February 2020, few industries such as agro-based and telecom/ISP have grown by 11 per cent and 10 per cent respectively in February 2021, compared to February 2020, according to the Monster Employment Index, the job analysis report by Monster.com.

According to the period considered for the MEI data, that is, February 1 to 28, 2021, there is a growth trend in job postings in all the major cities, with 17 per cent in Ahmedabad and 10 per cent in Bangalore. This is the maximum growth compared to January 2021. As far as the yearly trend is concerned, although there is a dip in hiring demand in almost all the cities, some of the industries showed notable growth. In the IT – hardware and software— space, there was a huge demand for professionals, with Hyderabad showing 15 per cent growth, followed by Bangalore at 14 per cent, and Chennai at 11 per cent. Among functions, in the software, hardware, telecom space, Bangalore posted 17 per cent growth, followed by Hyderabad at 15 per cent and Chennai at 9 per cent.

There is an overall growth in job postings across all experience levels right from entry level (0 -3 years) to senior level roles (> 15 years’ experience) in February 2021, as compared to January 2021. When we compare the findings with that of last year, the demand for senior professionals with more than 15 years’ experience has grown by 19 per cent.

Positive trend has been seen in almost all industries with Import / Export (10 per cent), FMCG – Food & Packaged Food (9 per cent), Printing/ Packaging (9 per cent), BPO/ITES (7 per cent), Banking/ Financial Services & Insurance (7 per cent) and Garments/ Textiles/ Leather /Gems & Jewellery (7 per cent) leading the way. There has been a three per cent decline in engineering, cement, construction, iron/ steel followed by home appliances (-5 per cent) and retail (-6 per cent).

As compared to February 2020, February 2021 has seen 15 % less job postings at an overall level. Industries, such as travel and tourism have seen 62 per cent less job postings, followed by education (-42 per cent), oil/gas/petroleum and power (-37 per cent) and BPO/ITES (-36 per cent). However, things seem to be looking up in terms of agro-based industries with 11 per cent growth in job postings, followed by Telecom/ISP (10 per cent) in February 2021 as compared to February 2020.

Citywise growth

There has been growth in jobs in all the major cities across the country in February, compared to January 2021. Ahmedabad (17 per cent), Bangalore (10 per cent) and Hyderabad (9 per cent) have shown the maximum growth. Cities such as Delhi/NCR (6 per cent), Jaipur (5 per cent), Coimbatore (4 per cent), Chandigarh (4 per cent) have shown moderate growth.

On the YOY comparison, majority of the cities are still seeing a decline in job postings. Kolkata (-32 per cent), Baroda (-23 per cent), Mumbai (-22 per cent) show the maximum dip in February 2021, compared to February 2020. Bangalore (+4 per cent), Hyderabad (0 per cent), Pune (-7 per cent) seem to have either completely recovered to pre-covid levels or are on the path to complete recovery.

Functionwise growth

While software, hardware, telecom (7 per cent), HR & Admin (7 per cent), Finance & Accounts (7 per cent) have shown the maximum growth, hospitality & travel (2 per cent), purchase/logistics/supply chain (2 per cent) and legal (1 per cent) have shown moderate growth.

Compared to February 2020, most of the functions are still trending lower in Feb 2021 with software, hardware, telecom (4 per cent) and arts/creative (1 per cent) almost back to pre-covid levels but healthcare (-30 per cent), hospitality & hravel (-39 per cent), customer service (-40 per cent) still lagging.

Experience level wise growth

Growth in experience level greater than 15 years is seven per cent, while in the experience range of 11 – 15 years, it is three per cent, followed by nine per cent in the 7-10 years range, nine per cent in the 4-6 years range and six percent in the 0-3 years range.

In comparison with February 2020, February 2021 data shows that job postings for greater than 15 years’ experience has grown by 19 per cent whereas, job postings for entry level profiles (0 – 3 years) has declined by 21 per cent.

Sekhar Garisa, CEO – Monster.com, feels, “While shifts in the job market have their ups and downs, with some sectors faring better than others, segments such as IT and telecom, alongside agro-based industries and media and entertainment continue to do well. Travel and tourism still face their set of challenges. However, it has seen improvement from where it was during the onset of the pandemic.”