Hiring levels continued to be robust in India, according to the Monster Employment Index for August.
The index, which compares hiring in a particular month against a base month, saw hiring activity hold firm in line with the trend seen since February.
Hiring activity, as measured by the index, has remained at the 150-154 range for the last seven months. In comparison, during the same time last year, hiring was going into a tailspin, with activity falling to just 120 in September 2013.
Since September, hiring in India has been on the increase, according to the index (see chart).
The strongest appetite for new employees was from travel and tourism, IT, healthcare, home appliances and media and entertainment, while the lowest apetite was from shipping, office equipment manufactuing, education, oil and gas and telecom (see chart).
In terms of roles, the hottest skill to have was marketing and communication, followed by IT and legal. Supply and logistics and HR were also sought after during August.
In comparision, engineering jobs, creative jobs and health care jobs were relatively less in demand. (see chart.)
Not surprisingly, Bangalore was the strongest in generating jobs, with hiring up 35% year on year, while Ahmedabad and Delhi followed close behind. Another Gujarati city, Baroda, was at number four.
Coimbatore saw poor hiring levels (see chart.)
“Robust growth… indicates that the business sentiment is turning positive. We are hopeful that things will further improve in coming months. Ache din aane walen hain,” said Managing Director Monster.com India Sanjay Modi.