Hiring activity in India grew by 117.8% in April 2021 when compared to April 2020 during the country’s strict nationwide Covid-19 lockdown, according to the latest Naukri JobSpeak Index.

However, as India experiences the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and many state governments are being forced to impose lockdown-like restrictions, the Naukri JobSpeak Index for April 2021 stood at 2,072, a sequential dip of 15% in hiring activity when compared to March 2021.

Sectors that led year-on-year growth in April 2021 include Real Estate (which grew by 4.2X), Auto/Auto Ancillary (3.2X), and Travel & Hospitality (2.7X). Sectors that remained afloat during the first wave such as Pharm/Biotech (1.6X), IT-Software (2.1X) and Banking/Finance (1.9X) saw proportionate growth in April 2021.

In line with other trends, most major cities witnessed 2.3X growth in hiring in April 2021 Vs April 2020. Tier-2 cities such as Kochi (2.8X) and Ahmedabad (2.6X) recorded the highest incline in year-on-year hiring. Within metros, Hyderabad (2.7X) and Chennai (2.4X) led the growth, while Mumbai (1.6X) experienced the least growth due to the significant resurgence of the second wave in April 2021 Vs April 2020.

On a month-on-month basis, the increased requirement for healthcare and life insurance had a less impact on hiring in sectors such as Insurance (-5%), Pharma/Biotech (-9%), and Medical/Healthcare (-10%) in April 2021 over March 2021. The IT-Software (-12%) sector, which remained shielded and drove robust hiring over the past few months, declined less than the national average sequentially. Other sectors such as FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) (-15%) and Telecom (-15%) declined in line with the overall hiring trend in April 2021 vs March 2021.

The Retail sector, which grew in March 2021, experienced a sharp decline of 33% in April 2021 due to restricted operating hours or closure owing to lockdowns in many parts of the country. Sectors such as Hospitality and Travel (-36%), Banking/Finance (-26%) and Teaching/Education (-24%) remained highly impacted in hiring activity in April 2021.

Meanwhile, the jobs market across metro and non-metro cities saw a downfall, barring Kolkata (0%) that remained flat.

Naukri’s data also found that the aggressive surge of cases in Maharashtra directly impacted hiring trends in Mumbai, which saw a sequential decline of 20% in Apr 2021. While Delhi/NCR (-18%) also remained impacted sequentially, Bangalore (-10%), Chennai (-10%) and Hyderabad (-4%) were less impacted in April 2021 Vs March 2021. Jaipur (-25%) and Chandigarh (-23%) led the decline in hiring in tier-2 cities while Cochin (-5%) remained the least impacted sequentially. Ahmedabad, which was showing robust growth in hiring over the past few months showed a decline of 12% in hiring in April 21 compared to March 2021.

The shutdown of schools, hotels, and non-essential offices led to a sequential decline in demand for professionals in the Teaching/Education (-32%), Hospitality (-32%) and Marketing/Advertising (-26%) domains in April 2021.

Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer, Naukri.com said, “The disruption caused by the second wave of Covid-19 has impacted the hiring activity leading to a 15% sequential decline in April 2021. However, the current impact on the job market is less severe than what we saw in April 2020 where the Naukri JobSpeak index declined by 51% month-on-month. This could be attributed to the lack of a strict nationwide lockdown being announced this time and the economy remaining open. The Hospitality, Travel, Retail and Education/Teaching sectors continue to be the first few sectors to be most impacted as was the case during the first wave while the Pharma/Medical/Healthcare sector remains shielded.”