February 2022 clocks the highest ever hiring activity: Naukri survey

After a sluggish period, due to the COVID brunt, the hiring activity in the country has picked up across multiple sectors, Naukri.com’s Jobspeak index indicated. The survey found that the month of February 2022 logged the highest-ever hiring activity on the index at 3074 surpassing the previous high of 2753 which was logged in September 2021. Overall, the hiring activity for the February month saw a 31 per cent growth year-on-year (YOY). The report noted that the reopening of the economy after the second wave of COVID has instilled positive sentiments across job seekers and employers.

“Clocking 3074, Naukri JobSpeak Index has set a new benchmark for nation's hiring activity indicating a favourable time for white collar job market. With sectors like Auto/Auto Ancillary showing recovery after a long time, and other major organised sectors sustaining growth, one can say that both sentiment and confidence are strong among the jobseekers,” Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer, Naukri.com said.

Which sectors witnessed strong hiring momentum?

The Naukri survey stated that the insurance sector clocked the highest growth in hiring activity in Feburary '22 (74 per cent growth YOY) when compared with February ’21, closely followed by retail (+64 per cent ), showing a sharp uptick since last year. Interestingly, after a long sluggish period, the automobiles sector finally showed signs of recovery in February this year as it grew by 12 per cent over the same period last year.

Sectors like IT-Software/software services (+41 per cent), banking/financial services (+35 per cent), pharma (+34 per cent), hospitality (+41 per cent) and telecom (+23 per cent ) continued to demonstrate strong and consistent growth as concerns around COVID reduced drastically in February 2022. Medical/healthcare (+7 per cent) and FMCG (+4 per cent) sectors showed marginal growth in hiring activity when compared with the same period last year.

Metros lead the hiring activity

The Naukri.com survey said that metro cities saw a very healthy rise in demand as Kolkata (+56 per cent) recorded the highest YoY hiring trend which was closely followed by Bengaluru (+49 per cent), Mumbai (+45 per cent), Chennai (+45 per cent), Hyderabad (+43 per cent), Pune (+41 per cent) and Delhi (+30 per cent).

In non-metro cities, Coimbatore (+57 per cent) recorded the highest YoY growth beating its past trend, followed by Ahmedabad (+32 per cent) and Kochi (+16 per cent). Interestingly, Jaipur (+15 per cent ) saw shoots of success, while Vadodara remained flat (-3 per cent ) in February '22 vs last year.

 
Mid-senior level employees back in demand

The hiring trend across all the experience bands treaded on a positive YoY growth trajectory in February '22 vs February '21. When compared with last year, the demand for mid to senior experienced professionals belonging to the 13-16 years category witnessed the highest surge at +35 per cent. The demand for professionals in 8-12 years (+31 per cent ), 0-3 years (+30 per cent), 4-7 years (+30 per cent) and above 16 years (+27 per cent ) bracket also stayed strong, the report added.