Hiring activity remains flat in February 2020: Report

Hiring activity remained flat during February compared to the same month last year, mainly due to sluggishness in sectors like insurance, hospitality and travel, according to a report.

The Naukri JobSpeak Index stood at 2,414 in February 2020, compared to 2,415 in the same month last year. Naukri JobSpeak is a monthly index which calculates and records hiring activities based on the job listings on Naukri.com website.

According to the report, the flat trend was primarily led by a decline in growth rates across sectors such as insurance (-23 per cent), hotel/ restaurants/airlines/travel (-18 per cent), auto /auto ancillary (-16 per cent) and recruitment/employment (-15 per cent) compared to February 2019.

Despite a flat trend in hiring activity, crucial industries like accounting/ taxation/ finance, education/ teaching/training, BPO/ITES and IT-software recorded growth of 14 per cent, 12 per cent, 9 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively.

The job market in Hyderabad picked up 5 per cent, whereas other cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Delhi NCR and Pune declined over the past year.

Hiring activities for entry-level jobs (0-3 years) saw a positive growth, while mid-level executives, senior and leadership roles saw a decline in February 2020 versus last year, it added.

"The economic slowdown in a few sectors has impacted the overall hiring activities. However, the recruitment growth in sectors like accounting/finance, BPO/ITES, IT-software and education/teaching, which employs a large pool of jobseekers in the country remains buoyant, which is a positive sign," Naukri.com Chief Business Officer Pawan Goyal said.