Hiring activity fell 8% October this year compared to the same month a year ago, according to Naukri.com’s Job Speak Index.
This dip was primarily caused by the festive season which saw Dussehra, Durga Pooja and Diwali fall in October, the company said. “Hiring activity generally tends to slow down around these festivals as recruiters go slow on hiring plans and job seekers also temporarily suspend their job hunt.”
Technology industries i.e. IT – Software/Software Services as well as ITES/BPO saw a YOY dip of 11% and 8% respectively, after seeing consistent growth so far in the financial year. IT – Hardware sector also saw jobs decrease by 24%.
IT – Software and ITES/BPO/KPO saw jobs in Oct 2016 go down by 9% and 6% respectively when compared to Oct 2015. IT – Hardware jobs also fell by 11% in the same time period.
Finance industries continued to have an impressive run and witnessed job growth even in the festive season which had an overall negative impact on jobs (see graph).
Banking/Financial Services saw jobs increasing by 6% in Oct 2016 when compared to Oct 2015, Insurance sector jobs grew by an impressive 21% in the same duration.
Finance oriented functional areas were relatively flat: Banking/Insurance jobs remained flat in Oct 2016 when compared to Oct 2015 while Accounts/Finance/Tax jobs saw a small dip of 4% in the same period.
Manufacturing and Infrastructure oriented industries continued to witness very low growth or a decline in jobs; while Auto/Auto Ancillary saw a modest 2% YOY increase in jobs, other sectors like Construction/Engineering, Oil & Gas/Power and Industrial Products/Heavy Machinery saw a reduction in jobs by 22%, 29% and 15% respectively.
Amongst other industries, Medical/Healthcare saw a 2% YOY growth in jobs while Education/Teaching also witnessed a 15% growth and were able to buck the trend of jobs slowdown in the festive season.
Amongst more traditional sectors: Sales/BD jobs were down by 11% while Marketing/Advertising jobs also fell by 8%.
The slowdown of manufacturing and infrastructure industries was reflected in functional areas that correspond closely to these industries: Production/Maintenance jobs fell by 4% while Site Engineering/Project Management witnessed a significant dip of 26%.
All metropolitan cities saw a YOY decline in jobs. Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore saw jobs decline by 17%, 35% and 6% respectively in Oct 2016 compared to Oct 2015. Jobs in Hyderabad were flat while Chennai, Pune and Kolkata also saw jobs decline by 39%, 34% and 29% respectively. Smaller cities were impacted just as strongly by the festive season and saw jobs decrease on a YOY basis.