India sees 6% spike in demand for healthcare staff amid Omicron surge

As India grapples with the Omicron surge and an understaffed healthcare industry, demand for medical professionals spiked in December 2021 with a 6 per cent month-on-month growth

As India grapples with the Omicron Covid-19 variant surge and an understaffed healthcare industry, demand for medical professionals spiked in December 2021 with a 6 per cent month-on-month growth, new data showed on Monday.

Healthcare led with the highest intent to hire on account of staff shortage amidst rising Covid numbers, according to Monster Employment Index.

"Hiring numbers from the close of 2021 have certainly brought about a strong sense of hope and recovery across sectors," said Sekhar Garisa, CEO of Monster.com, a Quess company.

"Given the spike in Covid cases, there has been a rise in job postings for Healthcare professionals in India. However, we remain cautiously optimistic on the growth of the Indian recruitment space in 2022, keeping in mind the possible impact of Omicron on the job market," he added.

Demand for talent surged 12 per cent year-on-year in December, showcasing an optimistic recovery cycle at the close of the year.

The growth in hiring activity was witnessed in the last six months with a 6 per cent uptick, while December saw a monthly incline of 2 per cent as compared to the previous month.

Across industries, the month of December saw retail and agro-based industries witnessing a positive incline of 12 per cent, on account of multi-channel approaches, technological adoption and government initiatives.

The roles in HR and admin (5 per cent) and finance and accounts (4 per cent) also saw an uptick over the month.

A year-on-year (Dec 2021 vs Dec 2020) comparison indicates that industries such as retail (14 per cent) and travel and tourism (4 per cent) witnessed a revival and are estimated to grow further in 2022.

"Further, tier 2 cities such as Kolkata (13 per cent), Coimbatore (11 per cent), Kochi (5 per cent), and Baroda (2 per cent) observed favourable rise in hiring activity along with metro cities," said the report.

On a year-on-year basis, hiring demand saw an incline in 22 out of 27 industries monitored by the Index.

The demand for entry-level and intermediate roles saw the highest month-on-month jump with 2 per cent growth.

--IANS

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