Naukri JobSpeak Index, the job index for white collar hiring in India, stood at 2433 for the combined October-November months, down 12% compared to the same period in 2022. Given Diwali was in Oct last year, it becomes imperative to club the two-month data and normalise for a comparable base.
IT hiring activity has stabilised over the last 6 months, albeit at a lower baseline vs 2022, while key non-IT sectors still managed to grow in the said period, the report said.
Also Read: India’s Job Postings Trend: Govt, PSUs, Defence See 14% Upsurge In Hiring, Says Report
Naukri.com said that the Naukri JobSpeak is a monthly index representing the state of the Indian job market & hiring activity based on new job listings and job-related searches by recruiters on the resume database of the platform.
Major Sectors that Logged in Positive Momentum
Oil & Gas
Oil & Gas sectors recorded good momentum, clocking a 9% jump in hiring in the October-November period as compared to last year. The growth can be attributed to the rapid expansion by energy companies and the setting up of new refineries across the country.
Top Roles In Oil & Gas
Machine Operator / Machinist, Instrumentation Engineer, and Maintenance Head were some of the job roles that saw good demand in the sector growing 39%, 25% & and 7% compared to the two-month period in 2022.
Pharma
The Pharma sector registered a 6% increase in new job offers in the October-November period of 2023 as against the in the October-November period of 2022.
Top Roles In Pharma
Lab Technician, Clinical Assistant, and Store Keeper job roles witnessed high demand in the sector in the twin months of October-November of 2023 growing 18%, 1% & 30% over the same period last year.
Insurance
Insurance was another major industry that saw positive momentum. Hiring in the sector grew by 5% in the October-November period of 2023 over the same period of 2022.
Top Roles In Insurance
Branch Sales Executive, Area Sales Manager, and Branch Sales Manager were some of the roles that saw growth of 16%, 12% & and 17% in the October-November period of 2023.
IT Sector Slowdown In Hiring
The IT sector continued to remain impacted and the overall hiring in the industry was 22% lower in the October-November period vs the 2022 base. The silver lining is that despite witnessing substantial corrections in the first half of 2023, the sector reported a 1% growth in November despite Diwali, over October 2023. New Job openings in AI-related fields like Machine learning engineer and Full stack data scientist increased by 64% & and 16% as compared to October-November 2022.
Non-metros Outshine their Bigger Counterparts
The non-metros, once again, outperformed the metros in terms of hiring. Vadodara clocked a decent 9% growth in new job offers in the last two-month period as against the same period of 2022. Ahmedabad stayed flat, that is, performed at the same level in the October-November period of 2023 over the October-November period of 2022.
Metros Delhi NCR and Mumbai clocked negative growth of 12% each. The IT-focused cities of Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Pune recorded negative growth of 20%, 18%, 21%, and 18% in the October-November period of 2023 as compared to the October-November period of 2022.
Senior Professionals Continue to be Favourites
Organisations continued to show preference for senior professionals in terms of hiring, a trend seen in most of 2023. Hiring for senior professionals with more than 16 years of experience went up by a massive 26% in the October-November period of 2023 as against the October-November period of 2022.
For professionals falling in the experience category of 13-16 years, new job offers went up by 6%. For professionals falling in the experience category of 8-12 years and 4-7 years, hiring dipped by 6% and 22% respectively.
For freshers, new offers recorded negative growth of 13% in the latest two-month period over the same period of 2022.
Pawan Goyal, chief business officer, Naukri.com, said, “It was encouraging to see core non-IT sectors like Oil & Gas, Pharma and Insurance growing at a healthy clip during a cluttered festive period. November’s 1% growth in IT vs October could be a much awaited positive sign, as we eagerly await next month’s trends.”
Source: News18