There has been a steady rise in the hiring of healthcare professionals amid rising COVID-19 numbers as India grapples with the new variant Omicron and an understaffed healthcare industry. As per Monster Employment Index data, the demand for medical professionals spiked in December 2021, with a 6 per cent month-on-month growth (Dec 2021 vs Nov 2021). HR and Admin Finance and Accounts, Software, Hardware, Telecom and Senior Management followed with positive growth numbers. On the other hand, the hospitality and the travel segment witnessed muted growth during Dec 2021. Among functions, logistics and supply chain, customer service and arts and creative showed a decline in hiring demand.
As per the Monster Employment Index, the demand for talent surged 12 per cent year-on-year in December 2021, showcasing an optimistic recovery cycle at the close of the year. As per the report, robust growth in hiring activity was witnessed in the last six months with a 6 per cent uptick, while December 2021 saw a monthly incline of 2 per cent in December 2021 as compared to the previous month. The report also indicates that December 2021 also saw retail and agro-based industries witnessing a positive incline of 12 per cent, on account of multi-channel approaches, technological adoption, and government initiatives. The report also observed that the demand for entry level and freshers and intermediate roles saw the highest monthly growth at 2 per cent, as compared to other experience levels (Dec 2021 vs Nov 2021).
The report further observes that a year-on-year (Dec 2021 vs Dec 2020) comparison indicates that industries such as retail and travel and tourism witnessed a revival and are estimated to grow further in 2022. Furthermore, as per the report, Tier-II cities such as Kolkata, Coimbatore, Kochi and Baroda observed favourable rise in hiring activity along with metro cities.
The report says that retail, agro, FMCG, Real Estate and healthcare sectors exhibited optimistic hiring trends in December 2021. The report points out that with the adoption of multi-channel approaches and enabling technologies, the retail industry leads the way to recovery with the highest month-on-month growth in hiring intent. Agro-based industries also projected positive growth trends, aided by government initiatives to strengthen agri-technology. FMCG, food and packaged food, printing and packaging, banking, financial services, insurance industries showcased positive uptick.
The report further says that on a year-on-year basis hiring demand saw an incline in 22 out of 27 industries. Additionally, equipment and automation continued to observe a substantial rise in job demand in the month of December 2021 given the immense adoption of automation across industries over the course of the pandemic (Dec 2021 versus Dec 2020). Printing and packaging, BFSI, IT- hardware, software, telecom ISP also witnessed a jump in job posting activity.
Engineering, cement, construction, iron and steel saw a dip in hiring in December 2021 due to increased labour migration causing bottlenecks in logistics and construction. Other sectors such as import and export, government, PSU and defence, media and entertainment and education also saw a dip in hiring. The education industry, which witnessed a complete shutdown of physical classes as well as interrupted reopening of schools, continues to recoup at a slow pace.
