Monster Employment Index: 56% of industries exceed online hiring demand in May 2021

Mumbai: Monster Employment Index, the most reliable and comprehensive job analysis report by Monster.com, a Quess Company, has published its findings for May 2021, providing insights into the job market across industries, cities, and functions.

May has been promising showing growth despite the second wave and lockdowns. Compared to April 2021, May showed a growth of 1%, whereas May 2021 grew 4% compared to May 2020.

Overall job postings have also increased by 4% year-on-year (May 2021 vs. May 2020). When it comes to hiring for the Top Management level professionals, with 16 or more years of work experience, witnessed a growth of 66% year-on-year (May 2021 vs. May 2020).

While April 2021 witnessed a dip in job postings given the onset of the second wave of the pandemic, May 2021 showed green shoots of recovery. IT – Hardware, Software hiring witnessed a year-on-year growth of 67% in Bangalore and 49% in Hyderabad. Industries that indicate the highest year-on-year growth in hiring across the key cities are Banking/ Financial Services, Insurance and IT – Hardware, Software.

Among the functions, Software, Hardware, Telecom indicate growth across all the key cities such as Bangalore (79%), Hyderabad (62%), and Chennai (50%). Overall recruitment activities showed a phenomenal uptrend in most of the cities year-on-year.

Job postings across industries indicate a promising uptick year-on-year

45% of the industries indicate positive month-on-month (May 2021 vs. April 2021) growth in job postings, with Retail (24%), Home Appliances (13%), and Telecom/ISP (10%) industries showing the highest growth. Other industries that are doing well compared to the previous month include IT – Hardware, Software, Banking/ Financial Services, Insurance, Office Equipment/Automation, and Healthcare, Bio Technology & Life Sciences, Pharmaceuticals. Indicating a downward trend, the Travel and Tourism (-13%), Import/ Export (-11%), and Printing/ Packaging (-8%) continue to face the challenges of the pandemic with a decline in job postings.

A year-on-year (May 2021 vs. May 2020) comparison shows hiring in 56% of the industries fared better as compared to the same time last year. It indicates that companies and employers are now better equipped to face the pandemic, despite the effect of the second wave. IT – Hardware, Software (29%), Logistic, Courier/ Freight/ Transportation (25%) and Telecom/ISP (23%) industries indicated the highest growth in job postings. However, Travel and Tourism job postings again showed a year-on-year decline with a 49% decline in May 2021. Education (-31%) and Engineering, Cement, Construction, Iron/ Steel (-20%) industries also witnessed a decline in hiring activities, year-on-year.

Technology hubs- Bengaluru and Hyderabad rule year-on-year growth in hiring

A monthly comparison (May 2021 vs. April 2021) shows growth in job postings at Kolkata (7%), Bengaluru (5%), Kochi (2%), and Pune (1%). It is promising for cities such as Kolkata that have seen multiple dips in hiring as per previous MEI reports. Compared to April 2021, Ahmedabad (-10), Chandigarh (-6%), and Jaipur (-5%) witnessed a dip in job postings as of May 2021.

Year-on-year (May 2021 vs. April 2021) data indicates that the tech hubs of India show promising growth in hiring, the cities such as Bengaluru (46%) and Hyderabad (26%) have witnessed the highest growth in job postings.

When it comes to Year-on-Year, recruitment activities showed a phenomenal uptrend in most cities such as Pune (+25%), Chennai (+21%), Delhi-NCR (+6%), Mumbai (+5%), Kochi (+1%). However, job postings have shrunk in Kolkata (-16%), Jaipur (-17%), and Baroda (-18%) as of May 2021 compared to last year.

An increase in hiring for Engineering/ Production and Purchase/ Logistics/ Supply Chain may be driven by e-commerce

On a month-on-month (May 2021 vs. April 2021) basis, Engineering/ Production (7%), Software, Hardware, Telecom (6%), and Purchase/ Logistics/ Supply Chain (3%) functions highlights an increase in job postings. It could be the result of increased reliance on e-commerce, driven by the lockdowns across the country. However, hiring in Hospitality & Travel (-9%), Customer Service (-6%), and Arts/Creative (-4%) functions declined during the same period.

Functions such as Software, Hardware, Telecom (32%), and Senior Management (15%) indicate a positive uptick in job postings year-on-year (May 2021 vs. May 2020, while Customer Service (-34%) and Sales & Business Development (-22%) indicate the most decline in hiring.

Job postings for intermediate to top management level roles witnessed a strong increase

Similar to the last month’s MEI trend regarding experience level-based hiring, month-on-month (May 2021 vs. April 2021) growth in job postings has witnessed across most job levels, except for entry-level jobs that saw a dip in demand by -2%. Top Management professionals (20%), Mid-Senior professionals (1%), and Intermediate roles (1%) witnessed positive month-on-month growth. Hiring demand for Senior Management professionals (0%) remains neutral.

Online hiring for Top Management levels greater than 16 years of experience witnessed a spike of 66% compared to last year (May 2021 vs. May 2020). Those for Senior Management professionals (11-15 years), Mid-Senior professionals (7-10 years), and Intermediate roles (4-6 years) saw an increase of 14%, 20%, and 13% Year-On-Year. However, job postings for entry-level profiles (0-3 years) have declined by 11% Year-On-Year (May 2021 vs. May 2020).

Sekhar Garisa, CEO – Monster.com said, “It is promising to see an improvement in hiring despite the impact of the second wave of the pandemic. Industries and functions have now learned to adapt to the current situation and hence the disruption is lesser in the hiring plans. Some industries have significant tailwinds due to the new normal and are flourishing in the new, dynamic environment. With Government & Organizations across the board working on an aggressive vaccination program, we are hopeful for quicker restoration of normalcy and accelerated hiring scenario.”