Overall job demand in IT sector falls 5% yearly in April, says report

White-collar job demand in April declined by 5 per cent compared to the same month last year with 2,715 job postings following a correction in hiring in the IT sector, a report said on Monday.

Overall job postings on Naukri.com platform stood at 2,863 during April 2022, according to the Naukri JobSpeak Index.

Active hiring in non-tech sectors such as real estate and BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) mitigated the dip in IT sector hiring, the report added.

The Naukri JobSpeak is a monthly index representing the state of the Indian job market and hiring activity based on new job listings and job-related searches by recruiters on the resume database on Naukri.com.

It further revealed that the real estate sector spearheaded non-technology industries, witnessing a 21 per cent upswing in recruitment compared to the same month of the previous year.

This growth predominantly resulted from an increase in new launches of residential and commercial properties across metropolitan areas, prompting hiring in key roles such as tender manager, construction engineer and civil engineer positions, it added.

Among the large metros, Kolkata, Pune and Hyderabad exhibited recruitment surges of 28 per cent, 22 per cent and 19 per cent, respectively, in hiring for the real estate sector, the report found.

The demand was highest for senior professionals with more than 16 years of experience, it said.

Besides real estate, the sectors with high growth in hiring activity included the oil and gas sector registering 20 per cent growth, the insurance sector with 13 per cent growth and the banking sector with 11 per cent growth compared to the same month the previous year.

Auto sector and pharmaceutical sector recruitment increased by a modest 4 per cent and 3 per cent, respectively, it stated.

Meanwhile, the report revealed that the IT industry hiring continued its ongoing correction with a 27 per cent decrease in hiring activity compared to April last year.

IT behemoths, startups, and unicorns have all felt the impact of the ongoing global slowdown, said the report, adding that cities with a heavy presence of IT-focused companies, such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune, were the hardest hit.

Besides IT, sectors such as BPO, EdTech and retail also registered a decline of 18 per cent, 21 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively, it noted.

Naukri JobSpeak Index further noted that among non-metro cities, Ahmedabad led hiring trends with a 28 per cent growth in new job creation compared to last year, followed by Vadodara and Jaipur with 14 per cent and 9 per cent growth in new job creation, respectively.

Banking, auto and insurance sectors have primarily contributed to the hiring activity observed across the non-metro cities, while real estate and oil and gas were the other sectors witnessing positive hiring sentiment in the smaller cities, it said.

The report also found that Demand for senior professionals with more than 16 years of experience increased by 30 per cent compared to April last year, while the demand for 13-16 years of experience increased by a respectable 20 per cent.

The demand for fresh graduates and professionals with 4-7 years of experience has declined compared to the same month last year, it stated.

"The growth in April hiring activity was dominated by a few key sectors such as real estate, BFSI and oil and gas. While IT-focused metros exhibited a cautious hiring sentiment, emerging cities such as Ahmedabad and Vadodara continue to shine," Naukri.com Chief Business Officer Pawan Goyal said.