India job market sees 18.4% headcount growth across key sectors: Report

With the country recovering from the third wave of COVID-19 and the economy gradually returning to normalcy, the job market witnessed an 18.4 per cent year-on-year growth in March led by travel and hospitality and energy sectors, according to a report.

Even as the job market has seen recovery, travel and hospitality sector has witnessed a robust recovery at 47.6 per cent growth in payroll headcount in March 2022 as compared to the year-ago period, according to a report by Allsec Technologies.

Travel and hospitality sector was the worst affected due to the pandemic-induced lockdowns over the last two years, the report added.

The report is based on in-house data from Allsec Technologies, a comprehensive Business Process Services (BPS) provider that tracks the employment trends across various sectors.

The overall movement from the previous year has been positive, with several industries showing progress in growing headcount, the report noted.

However, a comparison with pre-pandemic numbers indicates that the travel and hospitality sector has not quite bounced back to the pre-pandemic levels as it witnessed a 24.3 per cent de-growth in March 2022 as compared to March 2020, but is certainly on the way to recovery, it said.

Energy sector followed with a 41.5 per cent annual increase in headcount this year as compared to March 2021. It has notably surpassed pre-pandemic levels with a 42 per cent growth in March this year as compared to March 2020.

On the third spot was the IT/ITes industry, which witnessed a 27 per cent uptick and logistics saw a 27.3 per cent growth, it said.

Industries such as finance and food and beverages showed optimistic y-o-y trends with a growth of 16.6 per cent and 12.9 per cent, respectively, it added.

While most sectors have recovered, healthcare (-8.3 per cent) and e-commerce (-1.5 per cent) have witnessed a marginal year-on-year drop in March this year.

We have seen an optimistic recovery pattern across industries this month. It is heartening to see travel and hospitality lead the way, along with several other industries which were severely impacted by the pandemic. We are confident of seeing a positive trend in the months to come, keeping in mind the government's push for job creation across sectors as seen in the Budget and the economic revival of the country, Allsec Technologies (a Quess Company) CEO Ashish Johri said.