Hiring activity dips 62% in April in India: Naukri.com

Hit by COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide lockdown, India saw a 62 per cent decline in job hiring in the month of April, led by hotel/restaurant/travel/airlines industries that saw a massive -90 per cent less hiring activity than the same month last year, a new report said on Wednesday.

The aviation and hospitality industries were followed by auto/ancillary (-82 per cent), retail (-77 per cent) and accounting/finance (-70 per cent), according to Naukri JobSpeak Index.

The job market across cities registered a double-digit dip in hiring.

The decline was led by metros, wherein Delhi declined by 70 per cent followed by Chennai (-62 per cent), Kolkata (-60 per cent) and Mumbai (-60 per cent ).

There was an across-the-board decline in hiring at varied experience levels with the entry-level experience bands (0 to 3 yrs exp) witnessing the sharpest decline of 67 per cent.

"On the jobseeker front, we are prioritizing access and discovery of recently �laid off and immediately available to join' jobseekers to the recruiters. Also, there is a complete guide on career progression during these tough times with upskilling courses, hiring insights, CV assessment tools etc," informed Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer, Naukri.com.

Hiring activity in pharma/biotech/clinical research (-54 per cent), IT-software/software services (-49 per cent) and insurance (-42 per cent) was less impacted as compared to other industries in April.

New jobs for professionals in the ticketing/travel/airlines, hotel/restaurants and HR/administration sectors witnessed a dip of 95 per cent, 89 per cent and 78 per cent, respectively.

However, new jobs for professionals in the IT-software (-51 per cent), BPO/ITES/KPO (-54 per cent), pharma/biotech/healthcare (-57 per cent) and teaching/education (-56 per cent) sectors were less impacted as compared to other sectors in April.

The middle management roles (8-12 years' experience) roles declined by 55 per cent, senior management roles (13-16 years' experience) declined by 53 per cent and leadership roles (16+ years' experience) declined by 50 per cent.