The job market across cities registered a dip in hiring activity. The decline was led by metros wherein Delhi declined by 26 percent.

The Naukri JobSpeak Index for March 2020 at 1,954 marks a decline of 18% in hiring activity as compared to March 2019 at 2,378. The hiring activity showed early signs of slowdown starting from the month of January’20 where the index grew by only 5.75% followed by no growth in February’20.

The decline in hiring activity is led by industries like Hotel/Restaurant/Travel/Airlines (56%), Retail (50%), Auto/Ancillary (38%), Pharma (26%), Insurance (11%), Accounting/Finance (10%), IT-Software (9%) and BFSI (9%).

The job market across cities registered a dip in hiring activity. The decline was led by metros wherein Delhi declined by 26% followed by Chennai & Hyderabad at 24% and 18% respectively. There was an across the board decline in hiring activity at experience levels as well with senior experience bands (>13yrs exp) witnessing the sharpest decline of 29% while the entry-level experience band (0 to 7 yrs) saw a decline of 16%.

Commenting on the report, Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer, Naukri.com said, “The pandemic crisis has impacted Y-o-Y growth in hiring activities leading to an 18% decline. The negative sentiment on hiring was visible in the JobSpeak index starting January 20, mirroring the economic trends. The hiring activity for the first 20 days of March’ 20 saw only a 5% decline. However, due to the nationwide lockdown, there was a substantial drop in recruitment activity in the last 10 days which resulted in an overall drop of 18% in hiring. Industries like Hotel, Travel, Aviation and Retail have declined the most during the month. It is a great time for jobseekers to up-skill themselves by leveraging e-learning.”

Key Highlights of Naukri JobSpeak for March 2020 vs March 2019

Hiring Trends - Industry

Besides Hotel/Restaurants/Travel/Aviation, other key industries that showed a decline in hiring activity in March’20 versus last year same time were - Retail (50%), Auto/ Auto Ancillary (38%), Pharma (26%), Insurance (11%), Accounting/Finance (10%), IT-Software (9%) and BFSI (9%).

Industries in Focus

Some of the key industries like IT, BPO/ITES, BFSI, and Accounting/Finance that form a significant base of hiring activity in India within the white-collar segment have shown a lesser decline during these unprecedented times. As compared to the overall JobSpeak index decline of 18% during March’ 20 Y-o-Y, the hiring activity in the IT-Software industry declined by 9%, IT-Hardware by 7%, Accounting/Finance by 10%, BFSI by 9% and BPO/ITES by 1% only.

Hiring Trends – Functional Area

New jobs for professionals in the Hotel/Restaurants, Ticketing/Travel/ Airlines and Marketing / Advertising / MR / PR sectors witnessed a dip of 51%, 48% and 33% respectively. Functional roles in HR/Administration (29%), Banking/Insurance (23%), Sales/Business Development (20%) and IT-Software (16%) also witnessed a decline.

Hiring Trends - Experience

Hiring across experience levels was also impacted in March 20. The senior management roles (13-16 yrs. exp.) declined by 29%, leadership roles (16+ yrs. exp.) declined by 29% and middle management roles (8-12 yrs. exp.) declined by 20% YoY. The demand for entry-level executives (0-3 yrs. exp.) and senior-level executives (4-7 yrs. exp.) saw a dip of 16% each.

Hiring Trends - City

Recruitment across cities saw a double-digit dip during the month of March’20. Some of the hiring trends observed across key cities are as follows -

• Delhi/NCR: Hiring activity in the capital city witnessed a negative growth of 26%.  The Hospitality & Pharma industry saw a dip in hiring by 66% and 43% respectively. Recruitment activities across all experience levels saw negative growth. The demand for professionals in Hospitality (63%), Banking (28%), Accounting (23%) and IT-Hardware (22%) sectors marked a substantial negative growth.

• Chennai: Recruitment activities in Chennai dropped by 24%. The demand for professionals in Hospitality, IT-Software & Banking Industry saw a decline of 63%, 27%, and 21% respectively. However, the IT-Hardware sector saw a growth of 14% in demand for professionals. Hiring across all experience bands saw a double-digit decline.

• Hyderabad: Hiring in Hyderabad decreased by 18%. Hospitality (62%), Auto/Ancillary (46%) and BFSI (40%) contributed to the overall decline in the Industry hirings. Hiring across experience levels saw a dip of an average of 24%. The demand for professionals in the Hospitality and Banking sector witnessed a decline of 59% and 44% respectively.

• Kolkata: The city saw a dip of 15% in recruitment activity. The Hospitality (37%) and FMCG (31%) industries contributed to the downfall in industry hirings. All experience bands recorded negative growth. The demand for professionals in the IT-Hardware and Hospitality sector saw a decline of 55% and 40% respectively. 

• Bangalore: Overall hiring activity in Bangalore witnessed a drop of 15%. There has been a dip in hiring across all experience bands. Hiring in the Hospitality and Auto/Ancillary sectors saw a decline of 63% and 32% respectively. The demand for professionals in the Hospitality sector saw a steep decline of 56% in Bangalore. However, the BPO/ITES sector saw a growth of 6% in demand for professionals.

• Mumbai: Recruitment in Mumbai decreased by 14% in March 2020. Hiring in the Hospitality and Accounting sector saw a dip of 60% and 38% respectively.  The recruitment activity across experience levels saw a dip of an average of 33%. The demand for professionals in roles across the Hospitality and Banking sectors decreased by 58% and 43% respectively.

Pune: The city saw a dip in recruitment activity by 12%. The Hospitality (61%) and BFSI (54%) sectors contributed to the downfall in industry hirings. The demand for professionals in the Hospitality, Accounting and Banking industries recorded a decline of 51%, 23%, and 15% respectively. However, the BPO/ITES and Pharma sectors saw a growth of 21% and 11% in demand for professionals respectively. Amongst experienced bands, Pune saw a negative growth across experience levels.

Methodology

The Naukri JobSpeak is a monthly Index that calculates and records hiring activity based on the job listings on Naukri.com website month on month. The objective of Naukri JobSpeak is to measure the hiring activities in various industries, cities, functional areas, and experience levels. The data is compiled from the website wherein jobs posted by clients on Naukri.com are considered. Thus, the job speak index includes jobs that might be for replacement hiring. December 2008 is taken to be the base with an index value of 1,000 and the subsequent monthly index is compared with the data for December 2008. The jobs analyzed for the monthly Index are qualified on the basis of white-collar, urban, belonging to organized corporate sector jobs with the main focus on service industries. The report shows hiring trends across industry sectors, geography, experience level, and functional areas. More than 76,000 clients use Naukri.com, leading to the high reliability of data. The report does not cover gig employment, hyperlocal hiring or campus placement. Over a long period of time, the Naukri JobSpeak was impacted by the increase in the Naukri traffic share, internet penetration, Naukri pricing strategy and job listing drives.