Hiring activity registers 14 per cent sequential growth in December: Report

MUMBAI: The overall hiring activity in the country has improved by 14 per cent during December 2020, compared to the previous month mainly led by insurance, auto and ancillary sectors, according to a report.

The Naukri JobSpeak Index for December 2020, at 1,972, witnessed an increase of 14 per cent in hiring activity as compared to November 2020, when it stood at 1,727.

On a year-on-year basis, the overall hiring witnessed a decline of 10 per cent in December 2020, the lowest decline in the post-COVID months.

"The year 2020 was full of challenges and hiring across key industries bore the brunt of the pandemic. While hiring in April, May, June of 2020 was down by 56 per cent compared to last year, subsequent quarters showed a steady recovery," Naukri.com Chief Business Officer Pawan Goyal said. Further, "key sectors like hospitality, travel, auto and retail are still bouncing back, and the sequential numbers reassure us of robust recoveries in 2021, he said adding "as we look forward to a brighter year ahead, the overall hiring sets in the right direction for the closing month." Naukri JobSpeak is a monthly Index that calculates and records hiring activity based on job listings on Naukri.com website month-on-month.

The report further noted that hiring in the insurance sector grew by over 45 per cent in December, as against November as people felt the need to secure their health and businesses in the post-COVID era.

Further, the auto and ancillary sector continued to register growth in sequential hiring with increased consumer demand during the year-end period.

Other key sectors such as banking financial services an insurance, pharmaceuticals/biotech, FMCG and IT-Software too showed positive growth on a month-on-month basis in December.

In terms of cities, within metros, Pune and Delhi led the sequential recovery at an over 18 per cent and over 16 per cent increase in hiring followed by Kolkata (over 14 per cent) and Mumbai (over 10 per cent), the report said.

Coimbatore saw the highest hiring growth of over 30 per cent amongst tier II cities, followed by Ahmedabad (over 20 per cent) and Jaipur (over 15 per cent) in December versus November, it added.

The report revealed that hiring of professionals in hotels/restaurants domain also saw an uptick of 13 per cent sequentially indicating the revival of the sector in the post-COVID world.

The demand for professionals in teaching/education and HR/administration roles saw an incline of over 27 per cent and over 22 per cent, respectively in December compared with November.

Further, the report found that the 8-12 years and 13-16 years' experience band saw the maximum increase in hiring by 18 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively in December, compared to the previous month.