While 5 per cent of employers anticipated an increase in payrolls, 2 per cent expected salary cuts, and 47 cent forecasted no change in salaries in the second quarter.

If you are looking for a new job, it may upset you that only around 5 per cent of Indian companies are planning to hire in the next three months as businesses prepare for post-lockdown activities. The net employment outlook, according to the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey, stood at a mere 5 per cent for the July-September quarter, which is the weakest since the survey began 15 years ago. The employment outlook in India has hit a 17-year low, with employers in manufacturing, services, and wholesale & retail trade reporting their weakest forecasts on record.

While 5 per cent of employers anticipated an increase in payrolls, 2 per cent expected salary cuts, and 47 cent forecasted no change in salaries in the second quarter. The strongest hiring pace is recorded in the medium-sized organisations followed by the large-sized and small-sized firms, the survey said. The survey also underlined that the employment generation will depend on the demand generation in the new normal.

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Silver lining

Even as the employment outlook gets grim in India, the country has the most optimistic hiring outlook along with Japan and Taiwan. Outlooks from employers in Japan and India rank as the strongest globally, while Singapore has the weakest employment outlook globally. As India is gradually stepping out of the lockdown, the number of jobs is also increasing significantly. India added around 2.1 crore new jobs in the month of May, according to CMIE. However, the level of unemployment in the country is still at an alarming level of around 24 per cent. 

Meanwhile, as migrant labourers lost their jobs overnight, salary cuts and layoffs became a usual phenomenon in corporations. The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the manufacturing and services sector also indicated that the employment condition in the country is not only at its weakest due to the lockdown in previous months but also due to very low sentiment for recovery in the coming months too.