Agro and tourism industries witness high talent demand, Budget allocations to further growth: foundit Insights Tracker

foundit today published the foundit Insights Tracker (fit) for January 2023. Hiring activity in the Indian white-collar space recorded a slight dip of 2% month-on-month, as observed in the fit. Despite facing numerous challenges and trying times in the global economy, many industries in India have showcased commendable resilience and growth.

With the announcement of the 2023 Budget, the employment outlook for the Indian job market remains optimistic with huge potential for growth and economic progress in the months to come. Key industries such as Retail, Travel & Tourism, Advertising/PR, and Agro have exhibited continuous growth, with the report reflecting a 6% growth in job posting activity over the last 3 months. Year-on-year, a decline of 2% was registered as January 2023 saw an index of 277. This dip can be attributed to the hiring slowdown in sectors such as IT, BFSI, Telecom, Manufacturing, and Healthcare.

Interestingly, the Tracker has observed a resurgence in the job market for entry-level and intermediate positions, particularly in the HR/Administration and Purchase/Logistics/Supply Chain sectors, after a temporary dip in the recent months.

Commenting on job trends for September 2022, Sekhar Garisa, CEO - foundit (previously Monster APAC & ME), a Quess company said, "The Union Budget 2023 has identified the acceleration of growth and job creation as key priorities for economic development, while undoubtedly reiterating the need for Indian youth to be skilled and employable. The government’s impetus towards the creation of jobs in tourism as well as the green economy holds expansive potential. Along these lines, foundit has noted a 64% growth in demand for green jobs since January 2022 and this growth is expected to continue.  Upskilling measures in niche areas like coding, artificial intelligence, robotics, mechatronics, and Internet of Things (IoT) will enable a pool of opportunities in the upcoming months allowing for expansive adoption of tech across all sectors.”

Retail and agro-industries continue to hire while IT, BPO, and Telecom witness a slowdown

In January 2023, Retail (+8%) and Agro-Based (+7%) industries showcased the highest job posting activity on a month-on-month basis. Personalisation and omni-channel innovations through the adoption of advanced analytics, automation, and complex inventory systems have created a tech-focused pool of opportunities in retail with analytical skills high in demand. In fact, the Tracker reflects that Retail was the top industry with hiring growth of 19% on a year-on-year basis as well.

Job prospects for the agro industry continue to soar and this is expected to grow considering recent Budget allocations supporting the growth of Agri-Tech players. Travel & Tourism (+5%) continued to hire on a monthly basis and even showed remarkable growth from the previous year at 15%. Keeping in mind the tourism push in the Budget with ‘Dekho Apna Desh’ and similar initiatives, it is safe to say that Indian tourism will steadily pick up in the months to come. Other industries such as Oil/ Gas/ Petroleum, Power (+6%), Ad, MR & PR (+6%), Import/Export (+3%), and BPO/ITES (+2%) reflected similar trends (Jan 2023 vs Dec 2022).

However, Production & Manufacturing (-8%) noted a drop in hiring intent, as did Healthcare (-7%), IT Hardware & Software (-7%), Telecom (-5%), and BFSI (-3%). While Indian IT faces a lull due to global macro conditions and course correction from last year’s hiring surge, production hiring was impacted due to cost pressures and a rise in input prices. BFSI, which had continuously monitored positive hiring numbers, has noted a marginal dip of 1% annually. That being said, tech skills are still in high demand by recruiters across all sectors.

Hiring dips across several metro cities

City trends indicate that Chandigarh recorded a growth of 1% month-on-month in January 2023, and Delhi-NCR, Kochi, and Ahmedabad saw stabilized hiring demand. While Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, and Jaipur witnessed a marginal hiring drop between 1-2%, metro cities such as Hyderabad (-5%), Chennai (-5%), and non-metro cities such as Kolkata (-8%) and Coimbatore (-5%) recorded a greater fall in demand for talent due to the dip seen across multiple industries.

Demand for Logistics personnel adept in tech skills grows

Jobs in HR and Admin (+5%) showed a positive outlook as companies aim to sustain human resource planning, employee welfare, L&D, and recruitment practices. Interestingly, hiring for Purchase, Logistics, & Supply Chain (+3%) professionals saw a rise as India Inc. looks to build resilience through tech-enabled resilient supply chain ecosystems. Engineering & Production (+3%) and Marketing & Comms (+1%) professionals reflected positive demand growth as well.

However, owing to the recruitment dip across BFSI, IT, and similar industries, demand for Finance & Accounts, Software Hardware Telecom, Healthcare, and Customer Service roles tumbled by 3-5%.

Hybrid work model continues to prevail across key sectors

Post-pandemic, several work models were introduced globally, helping organisations stay afloat through testing times. Three years in, workforce and workplace dominate many debates and conversations with continuous shifts in employee and employer preferences. Pre-pandemic, foundit recorded a total of 8% work-from-home (WFH) jobs on the portal, whereas this number spiked up to 72% during the pandemic. In 2022 as many companies moved back to offices implementing newer models, the concept of hybrid working came up which offered flexibility and work-life balance to employees. Hybrid jobs held a 40% share of total job postings on foundit in 2022, while the share of remote jobs went down to 18%.

A look at current-day trends indicates that as of January 2023, hybrid jobs take up 29% share of total job postings indicating that this work model is still widely adopted and preferred by many. However, the share of remote jobs has slid down to 11%, which is a smidge higher than pre-pandemic levels.

Indian IT, which held the highest share of remote jobs on foundit (74% in 2022) also saw a drop in remote and hybrid jobs to 58% in January 2023. However, it is noteworthy to mention that the industry still contributed to over half of the total number of remote (23% share) and hybrid (35% share) jobs on the platform.