Hiring activity in India recorded year-on-year growth of 6% in August 2022 when compared to August 2021, according to the latest Naukri JobSpeak Index.

The Naukri JobSpeak Index stood at 2,828.

The growth in hiring was driven by the Insurance sector that grew by 87% in Aug 2022 against last year. Within this sector, maximum traction was seen for 4-7 years’ experience band (103%) followed by 0-3 years (99%), and 8-12 years (42%).

Looking at cities, the Insurance sector showed a significant jump in hiring activity in the National Capital Territory of Delhi  (+136%) and Mumbai (+129%) in Aug 2022 vs last year.

Apart from the insurance sector, there was also growth in other sectors including Travel and Hospitality (+56%), BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) (+43%), Auto/Auto Ancillary (+29%), Real Estate (+24%), and Retail (+18%) in Aug 2022 vs Aug 2021.

The Pharma/Biotech sector remained flat while the IT/Software sector recorded a decline of (-10%) over the year in August 2022 vs August 2021.

Among tier-II cities, Coimbatore led the charts at 28% YOY growth, followed by Kochi at 27%. Barring Chandigarh (-17%) and Vadodara (-11%), other emerging cities recorded a double-digit growth in hiring activity in Aug 2022 vs last year. Ahmedabad and Jaipur maintained their momentum with (+20%) and (+15%) annual growth respectively.  

Among metro cities, Mumbai led the charts at 21% growth in August 2022 whereas Delhi/NCR, Hyderabad, and Pune remained flat. Bangalore showed a dip of (-10%) in August 2022.

By experience level, hiring activity showed single-digit jump across all experience brackets such as 0-3 years (+7%), 4-7 years (+5%), and 8-12 years (+6%), 13-16 years (+7%), and >16 years (+7%) when compared with August 2021.

“After witnessing an extravagant growth rate in the last 2-3 months, hiring activity is seeing signs of stabilisation, and it would be interesting to see how the trend continues in the coming months,” Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer, said. “Important to note that Insurance as a sector has been flourishing since the start of this year as there has been continuous growth in hiring which is creating opportunities across experience bands with over 100% year-on-year growth in 0-7 years’ experience band.”

An archived recording of SIA’s recent webinar focusing on trends in the Indian staffing market will shortly be available for members to view.