Hiring rises 6% in February compared to January: Monster Employment Index

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Job posting activity in February 2021 rose 6% compared to the numbers a month earlier, according to the Monster Employment Index.

However, compared with the data of February 2020, a month before the lockdown was imposed in the country, the hiring numbers are down 15%.

Compared to January 2021, the hiring trends in February 2021showed a positive rise in different segments. The most impressive rise was recorded in import/export (10%), FMCG, food and packaged goods (9%), printing and packaging (9%).

Other sectors to record growths were BPO/ITES (7%), banking/ financial services & insurance (7%) and garments/textiles/leather/gems & jewellery (7%).

The areas where hiring shrunk in February 2021 compared to the earlier month were retail (-6%), home appliances (5%) and engineering, cement, construction, iron/steel (-3%).

The portal said that though a few sectors were lagging behind the hiring data of February 2020, agro-based and telecom/ISP grew by 11% and 10% respectively in February this year compared to the same month last year.

The sectors that had some catching up to do to reach the pre-lockdown levels of hiring were travel and tourism (February 2021 numbers 62% lower compared to February 2020), education (42% lower), oil/gas/petroleum, power (37% lower) and BPO/ITES (36% lower).

All the major cities witnessed growth in job postings. The two cities to record highest growth in February 2021 compared to January 2021 were Ahmedabad (17%) and Bangalore (10%). Other cities such as Delhi/NCR (6%), Jaipur (5%), Coimbatore (4%), Chandigarh (4%) all recorded single digit growth.

In Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai there was a marked demand for software, hardware and telecom professionals. While the demand in these sectors grew 17% in Bengaluru, Hyderabad recorded a rise of 15% and Chennai 9%.

“While shifts in the job market have their ups and downs, with some sectors faring better than others, segments such as IT and telecom, alongside agro-based industries and media & entertainment continue to do well. Travel and tourism still face their set of challenges. However, it has seen improvement from where it was during the onset of the pandemic,” said Sekhar Garisa, CEO, Monster.com.

However, compared with February 2020 figures, most cities recorded a decline. This was most prominent in Kolkata (-32%), Baroda (-23%) and Mumbai (-22%).

The bright spots were Bangalore where the February 2021 numbers were 4% higher than those in February 2020. Hyderabad was at the same level as February last year.

Another feature of the findings was that compared with January 2021, there was an increased need of professionals from entry level (0-3 years) to senior level roles (>15-years experience).

Interestingly, the demand seemed to be growing for experienced professionals more. Compared with February 2020 figures, February 2021 data showed that job postings for those with more than 15 years of experience grew by 19%, while that for entry level profiles (0–3 years) declined by 21%.

The Monster Employment Index was launched in India in May 2010.

Significantly, last week Naukri JobSpeak index registered a growth of 22% in hiring in February 2021 compared to January 2021.

The job portal data also point in the same direction as the CSO data on GDP growth signalled on February 26.

In the October-December quarter, the Indian economy climbed out of the contraction territory – when it recorded negative growths of 24.4% and 7.3% in April-June and July-September quarters – and posted a rise of 0.4% compared to the third quarter of 2019-20.