Monster Employment Index: Moderate Recovery across Cities and Sectors

Mumbai: Monster Employment Index has published insights into the job market across industries, cities, and functions. Notably, the last quarter has witnessed a growth of 4% in job postings across various job sectors. The overall data indicate that the employment index saw a slight decline in job posting activity in March 2021, with a 2% drop compared to the previous month, February 2021.

In terms of month-on-month growth, several industries such as Logistics, Courier/Freight/Transportation (19%), Printing & Packaging (5%), and Office Equipment/Automation (5%) witnessed a significant increase in job postings in March 2021 as compared February 2021. Industries such as Agro-based (12%), Logistics/Courier (9%), Telecom/ISP (8%), and IT-Hardware, Software (5%) also witnessed an upward trend year-on-year growth (March 2021 v/s March 2020).

Cities such as Bangalore and Pune have witnessed a positive month-on-month uptrend of 2% and 1% in March 2021. The same cities have also observed a yearly uptrend, with recruitment activities in Bangalore (14%), Hyderabad (6%), and Pune (2%) growing in March 2021 year-on-year compared to March 2020.

Month on Month growth witnessed across various industrial sectors

As of March 2021, the industries that witnessed maximum growth in job postings (March 2021 v/s March 2020) are Logistics, Courier/Freight/Transportation (19%), Printing & Packaging (5%), Office Equipment/Automation (5%), FMCG, Food & Packaged Food (3%), IT-Hardware, Software (2%), and BPO/ITES (1%).

A couple of industries such as Banking/Financial Services, Insurance (-6%), Production and Manufacturing (-6%), Telcom/ISP (-4%), and Media & Entertainment (-4%) that previously showed a positive outlook, have witnessed a month-on-month decline in March 2021 (March 2021 v/s February 2021) owing to the pandemic.

However, Agro-based industries (12%), Logistics, Courier/Freight/Transportation (9%), Telecom/ISP (10%), and IT- Hardware, Software (5%) have exhibited a positive outlook in March 2021 compared to the previous year (March 2020).

In year-on-year comparison to March 2020, March 2021 has seen a decline of 10% job postings at an overall level. Travel and Tourism (-59%), Education (-37), Oil/Gas/Petroleum, Power (-33%), BPO/ITES (-27%), and Retail (-23%) industries have witnessed a significant drop from pre-Covid levels.

Significant year-on-yeargrowth in Bangalore and Hyderabad job markets

As of March 2021, city trends have seen moderate monthly growth. Among the cities, Bangalore (2%), Coimbatore (1%), and Pune (1%) shown an upward trend in job postings as of March 2021 month-on-month compared to February 2021. However, some cities like Hyderabad (-1%), Ahmedabad (-4%), Delhi-NCR (-2%), and Jaipur (-5%) have witnessed a drop in job postings as of March 2021 month-on-month in comparison to February 2021.

Despite the pandemic, the report indicates a massive growth in Bangalore (14%) and Hyderabad (6%), which have shown the maximum year-on-year growth as of March 2021 compared to March 2020. While most of the cities continue with a trend of a slight decline in recruitment activities, Kolkata (-29%), Baroda (-18%), and Mumbai (-16%) have witnessed the maximum decline year-on-year in March 2021 compared to March 2020.

A slight month-on-month dip across functions

In the month-on-month comparison to February 2021, most functions, and departments have witnessed a slight decline in March 2021. However, the Software, Hardware, Telecom roles continue to recover with a 2% month-on-month growth as of March 2021 compared to February 2021. Functions such as HR & Admin, Marketing & Communications, and Finance & Accounts witnessed a slight dip of -2%. Hospitality & Travel (-12%), which showed moderate growth in the previous month of February 2021, saw a significant decline in March 2021. Sales & Business Development (-12%) showed a negative trend in recruitment activity across all markets in March 2021 compared to a positive (5%) in February 2021.

Software, Hardware, Telecom (12%) & Arts/Creative (3%) are back to pre-covid levels as of March 2021. However, Customer Service (-36%), Hospitality & Travel (-35%), and Health Care (-26%) have seen the highest year-on-year decline in March 2021, compared to other functions as of March 2020.

Job postings for top-level professionals show a yearly upward trend

As of March 2021, month-on-month growth in job postings is seen across most levels compared to February 2021, except for entry-level jobs that saw a dip in demand by -3%. Top Management professionals (4%) and Senior Management professionals (1%) witnessed a positive month-on-month growth, while Mid-Senior professionals and Intermediate roles remained stable in March 2021 compared to February 2021.

In comparison to March 2020, March 2021 data shows that job postings for greater than 15 years’ experience have grown significantly by 27% whereas, job postings for entry-level profiles (0 – 3 years) have declined by 16% and those for intermediate level profiles (4 – 6 years) has witnessed a decline.

Sekhar Garisa, CEO – Monster.com said, “While the overall index witnessed a slight drop in recruitment activity, major cities such as Bangalore and Hyderabad show a positive outlook in hiring demand compared to last year. With companies re-adapting to the flexible-hybrid work model, and digital hiring on the rise with innovative tech, we anticipate a recovery of the Indian job market in the coming quarters.”