Job demand surges 7% in February led by BPO, manufacturing

Demand for jobs surged 7% year-on-year in February 2022 as the economy opened up after the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a private survey.

Hiring activity rose 3% over the previous month in February, according to the Monster Employment Index.

The BPO and ITES industry, which contributes close to a tenth of the country’s GDP, posted a strong 11% growth in hiring demand, owing to the increased adoption of digitisation across industries, the survey said.

The demand for roles in the shipping and marine sector jumped 9% after the announcement of the Maritime Vision 2030 scheme. Production and manufacturing too witnessed a 9% surge in job postings with the renewed focus given to employment generation and expansion through the PLI scheme and PM GatiShakti.

Demand remained steady for professionals across almost all levels of experience, the survey said. “It is encouraging to note that all cities monitored by the Index saw an uptick (Feb 2022 vs Jan 2022) in hiring.”

The automation and office equipment industry saw a 103% growth in hiring as the economy opened up, followed by the BFSI (27%) and Printing/Packaging (23%). Top management roles continue to lead annual hiring demand across experience levels.

On a year-on-year basis, hiring demand surged in 21 out of 27 industries monitored by the Index. However, the engineering, cement, construction and steel industry saw a huge dip in hiring in February due to the global supply chain crisis.

A sequential decline was observed in hiring demand across media & entertainment (-13%), FMCG, food & packaged food (-8%), and education (-1%).

While the travel & tourism sector has shown an encouraging trend month on month, it has been slow to recover (-5%) on an annual basis following the shutdowns and travel restrictions owing to the advent of the Omicron variant.

All 13 cities monitored by the Index saw a positive uptick in job postings with Delhi (13%) leading the charge followed closely by Mumbai (8%), Ahmedabad (7%), Chennai (7%), Hyderabad (6%), Coimbatore (6%), Bangalore (6%) and Jaipur (6%).

“While the previous month witnessed significant dips in hiring fearing shutdowns and restrictions, it is promising to see the revival of hiring across all cities including Kolkata (5%),” the survey said. Vadodara has also undergone a significant revival as compared to the previous month posting a 5% increase in hiring demand, it said.

Across experience levels, entry level professionals (0-3 years) witnessed a steady incline (2%) in hiring activity, bringing good news for the graduating batch currently entering the workforce. The hiring demand for intermediate level professionals (4-6 years) charted the highest growth at 3% while there was a marginal increase in demand for senior (11-15 years) and top management (>15 years) professionals both registering a growth of 1% each. Mid-senior (7-10 years) exhibited stable growth over the month.