Fresher hiring gains in manufacturing, retail as IT demand cools: Report

Fresher hiring intent weakened in information technology in the second half of 2026, while demand for entry-level workers increased in manufacturing, engineering, logistics and consumer-facing sectors, according to the latest TeamLease EdTech Career Outlook Report released on Monday.

 

IT hiring intent fell to 76 per cent in July-December from 81 per cent in January-June. In contrast, manufacturing rose to 89 per cent from 86 per cent, engineering and infrastructure to 66 per cent from 61 per cent, logistics to 53 per cent from 48 per cent and fast-moving consumer goods to 86 per cent from 80 per cent. Travel and hospitality also rose to 81 per cent from 77 per cent. Overall, 75 per cent of the 1,097 employers surveyed intended to hire freshers, up from 73 per cent in the previous six months.

   

Across all sectors, fresher hiring intent rose to 75 per cent in July-December from 73 per cent in the previous six months, but the increase masked a shift in demand across sectors, with IT weakening while manufacturing and consumer-facing industries gained.

 

E-commerce and technology start-ups and retail recorded the highest fresher hiring intent at 93 per cent each, followed by manufacturing at 89 per cent. Consulting and educational services, meanwhile, were at the bottom of the list, with hiring intent of 19 per cent and 21 per cent, respectively. Both these sectors also saw a decline from the previous half-year, when the figures were 22 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively.

 

Fresher hiring also remained concentrated in a few major cities. Bengaluru recorded the highest hiring intent at 89 per cent, followed by Mumbai at 75 per cent and Chennai at 71 per cent. Hyderabad stood at 60 per cent, Delhi at 49 per cent and Pune at 41 per cent. Compared with the previous year, hiring intent rose in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Pune, while it declined in Coimbatore and Gurugram.

 

“What we're seeing this second half of the year is less about how many freshers get hired, and more about which freshers get hired. Sectors like Retail, E-commerce, and Manufacturing are scaling up because they're finding candidates who arrive with practical, job-ready skills, not just a degree. IT and consulting, on the other hand, are being more selective precisely because the skill bar has moved: employers in these sectors now expect freshers to show AI fluency, applied problem-solving, and hands-on project experience from day one, not capabilities they'll build on the job,” said Shantanu Rooj, Founder & CEO, TeamLease EdTech.

 

“This shift is exactly why we believe skilling can no longer be an afterthought to education; it needs to be embedded into how freshers learn, right from the classroom, so they're equipped for the roles that are actually growing, not just the ones they hoped for,” added Rooj.

 

The report said the changing demand was also raising the bar for freshers. Employers increasingly expected candidates to have practical experience through internships, projects, portfolios or assessments, as well as basic familiarity with AI tools and digital workflows. This was creating a gap between employers, who wanted freshers to be ready to contribute from the start, and graduates, who expected their first jobs to help them build practical skills.

 

The report also flagged limited practical exposure, faster-changing skill requirements and employers becoming more selective about training investments as key challenges for entry-level workers.

 

The shift was reflected in the roles employers identified as being in demand, including AI Application Developer, Junior Semiconductor Design Engineer, Data Centre Operations Associate, Programmatic Advertising Associate and Inventory and Dispatch Executive. The report said the top skills sought from freshers included full-stack engineering, cloud security, business analytics, healthcare technology, and sustainability and ESG.