Online recruitment in India recorded a year-on-year decline of 18% in January 2021 due to the impact of the pandemic, according to data from Monster.com in India, a Quess Company.

The Monster Employment Index (MEI) decreased to 256 in January 2021 from 313 in January 2020.

Month-on-month, the Index remained constant with 0% as December 2020 saw an index of 255.

Online hiring demand in January 2021 exceeded January 2020 level in three of the 27 Industries monitored by the Index.

Year-on-year, Telecom/ISP (Internet Service Provider) (0%) remained neutral in e-recruitment activity among industries whereas Agro Based Industries (15%) and Media & Entertainment (2%) showed a notable annual growth. Rest of the monitored industries showed a downward trend in online demand for hiring.

Industries that continued to decline in annual growth are travel and tourism (-64%), oil/ gas/ petroleum (-40%) and BPO/ITES (Business Process Outsourcing/IT Enabled Services) (-40%).

Annual online demand for professionals reflected decline in all 14 functional areas as tracked by the Index.

Online demand for professionals in job-roles including Arts/Creative (-1%), Software, Hardware, Telecom (-1%) and Engineering/ Production (-6%) showed a slight dip between January 2020 and 2021.

Functional roles in Hospitality & Travel (-43%), Customer Service (-41%), Finance and Accounts (-33%) witnessed the sharpest annual dip.

Online hiring demand monitored by the Index showed downward trend in all the 13 cities from a year-ago level.

Job postings in the top three locations of Bangalore (-2%), Pune (-10%), and Hyderabad (-5%) witnessed the least year-on-year impact. 

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.”  

Meanwhile, demand for entry-level job seekers with experience of 0-3 years decreased by 25% while hiring for Intermediate level roles with an experience of 4-6 years fell by 17%. Mid-senior level roles with 7-10 years of experience saw a decline of 10%, hiring for senior level roles with 11-15 years of experience decreased by 1% and top Management level professionals witnessed growth of 11%.