Hiring up 15% in June as hospitality sector bounces back

India's hiring activity increased 15% in June 2021 compared to the previous month, led by a resurgence of business for hotels, restaurants, airlines, travel and retail industries, according to the Naukri JobSpeak report released on Thursday. The improvement in hiring across several key industries as well as functional areas comes as pandemic-related restrictions have been relaxed after the second wave.

Naukri's hiring index grew to 2,359 in June from 2,047 in May. The index had plummeted 15% in April 2021 and flattened out in May 2021, primarily due to the pandemic. The current level puts it on par with the hiring level of February 2021. Hotels/restaurants/airlines/travel led the pack with 87% increase in hiring compared to May, while retail bounced back by 57%. Sectors such as insurance (+38%), banking/financial services (+29%) and pharma/biotech (+22%) have also shown recovery from their recent slump.

Other sectors like FMCG (+22%), education/teaching (+15%) and BPO/ITeS (+14%) saw positive sequential upswing. The IT-software/software services sector grew 5%. Role-wise, marketing/advertising/MR/PR (+39%), sales/BD (+32%), HR/administration (+31%) and banking/ insurance (+31%) grew the most.  

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Hiring for roles in production/quality (+22%) and accounts/finance (+20%) also rose in the last one month. The demand for tech professionals rose 4% as IT companies continue to bulk-hire talented professionals in 2021. Hiring for teaching roles grew 9%.

Providing cause for cheer to young job seekers, hiring in the 0-3 years' experience grew 22% compared to negative growth in May. The 13-16 years (+11%), 8-12 years (+8%) and 16+ years (+10%) categories also grew in double digits. Hiring in Delhi/NCR and Kolkata, which were negatively impacted in May, grew 26% and 24% respectively. Meanwhile, Pune (+10%), Hyderabad (+10%) and Bangalore (+4%) maintained their recent uptrend as they continued to fulfill the demand for skilled personnel in the IT sector. Among the tier-II cities, Jaipur (+50%) and Vadodara (+29%) were the best performers.

Naukri.com chief business officer Pawan Goyal called the recovery encouraging and said IT hiring has grown more than 52% from June 2019. The Naukri JobSpeak is a monthly Index that calculates and records hiring activity based on the job listings on Naukri.com website month on month. The report does not cover gig employment, hyperlocal hiring or campus placement.

Also read: COVID-19: Hiring freeze to adversely affect job openings for permanent staffers, says survey