White collar hiring rises by 2% in Nov driven by non-IT sector: Report

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White-collar hiring activity reported a modest 2 per cent growth in November compared to the same month last year, mainly driven by sectors including oil and gas, artificial intelligence-machine learning (AI/ML), FMCG among others, a report said on Tuesday.

Naukri JobSpeak Index, an indicator of white-collar hiring activity, reported modest trends in November, coming in at 2,430 points, reporting a 2 per cent year-on-year growth.

This positive trend is driven by strong growths in key non-IT sectors like Oil and Gas (16 per cent), Pharma/Biotech (7 per cent), FMCG (7 per cent), and Real Estate (10 per cent), alongside sustained momentum in emerging domains like AI-ML (30 per cent) and global capability centres (11 per cent), the report said.

The IT sector continues to hold steady, registering a flattish trend compared with last year.

In November, standout performers included Oil and Gas (14 per cent), Artificial Intelligence-Machine Learning (20 per cent), FMCG (6 per cent) and GCCs (4 per cent), highlighting the continued buoyancy in these domains.

Other sectors witnessed moderation in hiring activity, largely expected during the festive season, it 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 of Naukri.com.

Meanwhile, when it came to geographic locations, cities in Rajasthan sustained remarkable resilience.

Jaipur (14 per cent), Udaipur (24 per cent) and Kota (15 per cent) emerged as notable bright spots, wherein Jaipur saw a 20 per cent year-on-year growth in hiring by Foreign MNCs, it said.

Towards the eastern end, Bhubaneswar was impressive with a 21 per cent YoY increase, it said.

"We typically observe muted trends on white collar hiring during the festive period and the 2 per cent growth in November broadly reflects that. However, the combined October and November trends reflect good resilience. Additionally, the rise in non-IT fresher hiring is a good development with respect to the younger talent," Naukri.com chief business officer Pawan Goyal added.