E-hiring activity picks up in February: Reports

Hiring activity witnessed an uptick in February, indicating optimism across industries including BFSI and insurance, even as the ITeS sector continues to reel under pressure, reports say.

The Naukri JobSpeak Index for February this year stood at 2,087, up by 6 per cent compared with February 2017, indicating a rise in online hiring activity.

Meanwhile, according to Monster Employment Index, e-recruitment activity in February this year registered a 16 per cent year-on-year growth.

"The JobSpeak index has shown an year-on-year growth of 6 per cent in February. This growth is primarily driven by non-IT sectors viz oil & gas, BFSI, insurance, industrial products, construction and automobiles," said V Suresh Chief Sales Officer Naukri.com.

Suresh further noted that the job market continues to be volatile and the IT sector remains under pressure. "We can expect this volatility to continue for a few more months before it moves north," he said.

Monster.com's city-wise data shows that among all monitored cities, Kolkata (up 45 per cent) recorded the most notable annual growth rate, followed by Baroda (up 37 per cent) and Ahmedabad (up 33 per cent).

According to Naukri.com, Mumbai witnessed a 12 per cent jump in hiring when compared to February 2017.

E-recruitment activity in Chennai saw a growth of 5 per cent down from 6 per cent in January, while Delhi-NCR (up 1 per cent) saw the least growth among all monitored cities, the Monster.com report said.

The year-on-year comparison highlights that top metros have maintained a steady growth while, the tier II markets were not far behind - signalling a healthy uptrend, said Naukri.com.

The demand to hire seasoned professionals in senior management roles with experience of over 16 years saw 16 per cent year-on-year growth. However, entry-level job seekers with 0-3 years of experience rose by 8 per cent in February this year as compared to a year-ago period, the Naukri.com report added.

"It is heartening to note that the Budget 2018 focused on the revival of rural economy and job-creation. This has provided a much-needed impetus to production and manufacturing sector, which has seen an upward growth at 59 per cent YoY for the first time since December 2015," said Abhijeet Mukherjee, CEO, Monster.com- APAC & Gulf.

Mukherjee further noted that online recruitment in retail picked up after three months, which is a significant improvement from no growth in the sector in November 2017 and negative growth in December and January.