Monster Employment Index: The Road to Recovery Continues

• Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad lead the growth for IT job postings; IT industry continues to do well with a 6% monthly growth in job postings (January 2021 vs. December 2020)
• Agro Based Industries (+15%) and Media & Entertainment (+2%) showed a notable annual growth (January 2021 vs. January 2020)

Monster Employment Index, the most reliable and comprehensive job analysis report by Monster.com, a Quess Company, has published their findings for January 2021. It provides insight into the job market across industries, cities, and functions. The data indicates that the employment index has remained consistent in January 2021, with no changes when compared to the previous month.

The index has been stable since November 2020, as hiring activity remained consistent with a neutral trend in the last quarter. However, there has been a year-on-year decline of 18% as of January 2021 compared to the previous year due to the impact of the pandemic.

In comparison to January 2020, job postings in some industries have improved, with some doing even better than the pre-Covid levels. Agro-based industries and Media and Entertainment have grown by 15% and 2% respectively in January 2021 compared to the same time last year. Telecom/ ISP job postings have become stable, indicating a 0% change compared to January 2020. However, Telecom roles have witnessed a 13% increase in postings in the last three months.

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Jobs in the IT industry- Hardware, Software, reflected significant demand this month with month-on-month growth of 6% in job postings, seen mostly in Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad cities. Further, a constant increase in job postings for the Home Appliances industry is noticed, with 9% growth in postings in January 2021, compared to December 2020. While the job postings for the Home Appliances industry are at -18% decline year on year in January 2021, the same has improved compared to the previous index (December 2021 vs. December 2020) which was at -25%.

Agro-based industries and Media and Entertainment industries indicate year-on-year growth in job postings

As per the report, industries that have witnessed maximum growth in job postings compared to the previous month are Home Appliances (9%), Agro-based industries (7%), IT – Hardware, Software (6%), Banking/ Financial Services, Insurance (6%), and Chemicals/ Plastic/ Rubber, Paints, Fertilizer/ Pesticides (5%).

Industries such as Advertising, Market Research, Public Relations (PR), Production and Manufacturing, and Engineering, Cement, Construction, Iron/ Steel have also witnessed month-on-month growth of 4% each. The media and Entertainment industry remains consistent when compared to the previous month with no changes. However, there is an indication of a 2% year-on-year growth.

With the reopening of travel and reduced restrictions in vehicular movement, Travel, and Tourism, and Automotive/ Ancillaries / Tyres have witnessed an increase of 2% in job postings. However, when it comes to year-on-year comparison Travel and Tourism industry has been the worst hit, at -64%. Oil/ Gas/ Petroleum, Power (-40%), and BPO/ITES (-40%) have also witnessed a steep year-on-year decline in January 2021.

Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad emerge promising for jobs

When compared to December 2020, Job postings in Bangalore (3%), Pune (2%), and Hyderabad (1%) witnessed growth, and job postings in Chennai have remained the same in January 2021. Job postings in the top three locations of Bangalore (-2%), Pune (-10%), and Hyderabad (-5%) have also witnessed the least year-on-year impact. Bangalore and Pune have significantly bounced back.

Although there is a dip in hiring demand in almost all the cities, few industries have showcased a notable growth in specific locations. IT – Hardware, Software witnessed an uptrend in Chennai (10%), Hyderabad (9%), and Bangalore (8%). Among functions, Software, Hardware, Telecom reflects a surge in demand for professionals in the same cities, Bangalore (11%), Hyderabad (9%), and Chennai (6%).

Other major cities such as Delhi-NCR and Mumbai have witnessed a slight month-on-month decline of -1% and -2%. Ahmedabad (-27%), Baroda (-32%), and Kolkata (-37%) have seen the maximum drop compared to the previous year, January 2020.

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Functions of Top Management level professionals witnessed growth of 11% Y-o-Y in job postings

The functions such as Legal (4%), Software, Hardware, Telecom (3%) and Senior Management (2%), and Finance & Accounts (2%) witnessed the most month-on-month growth in job postings. The reopening of tourism at various locations across India has led to an increase in job postings for Hospitality & Travel functions. They have improved to having no change (0%) month-on-month when compared to -5% over the past three months.  However, Hospitality & Travel remain the most impacted function with a decrease in job postings by 43% in January 2021, compared to January 2020. The functions such as Customer Service (-41%) and Finance & Accounts (-33%) also witnessed the most year-on-year decline.

Sekhar Garisa, CEO – Monster.com said, “While shifts in the job market have their ups and downs, with some sectors faring better than others, segments such as IT and Telecom, alongside Agro-based industries and media & entertainment, continue to do well. Travel and Tourism still face their set of challenges. However, it has seen improvement from where it was during the onset of the pandemic.  With the COVID Vaccine rollout being initiated and the nation gears up to be workplace-ready, we can hope for improvements and new opportunities to open up in the coming months.”

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