Online recruitment in India grew by 10% in January 2022 compared to January 2021, according to the latest Monster Employment Index.

The Monster Employment Index showed consistent improvement in online recruitment compared to the corresponding period a year-ago. The index charted 282 in January 2022 from 256 in January 2021.

The moderation in growth is reflective of the cautious approach of the Indian employers owing to the omicron variant.

Job demand saw 1% decline on month on month basis, as December 2021 saw an index of 286.

In January 2022, 21 of the 27 industry sectors monitored by the Monster Employment Index registered expansion in online recruitment activity when compared to the previous year.

Office Equipment/Automation (106%) exhibited the highest annual growth among sectors. Printing/ Packaging (+34%) and Banking, Financial Services & Insurance (+34%) stand next in the queue to report growth in online job demand in the month of January 2022 compared to January 2021.

The Engineering, Cement, Construction, Iron/ Steel industry recorded a decrease of 19%.

Online recruitment activity edged up in 6 out of 13 functional areas monitored by the Index.

Software, Hardware, Telecom (+27%) personnel saw online demand exceed the year ago level in January 2022. Finance and Accounts (+26%) roles followed closely.

The functional areas like Sales & Business Development (-15%) and Customer Service (-9%) saw a dip this month as well.

Among cities, online recruitment activity was up on the year for 10 of the 13 locations monitored by the index.

Among metro-areas, Bangalore (+25%), Chennai (+19%), Pune (+18%), Hyderabad (+17%), Mumbai (+17%), Kolkata (+13%) and Delhi-NCR (+3%) reported annual growth.

Among tier-2 cities, Coimbatore (+18%), Ahmedabad (+7%) and Kochi (+8%) saw significant improvement in the long term growth momentum this month. Baroda (-1%), Jaipur (-6%) and Chandigarh (-11%) were  the slowest growth markets monitored by the Index.

Demand for entry-level job seekers with experience of 0-3 years grew by 9%. Hiring for Intermediate level roles with an experience of 4-6 years increased by 29%. Mid-senior level roles with 7-10 years of experience saw growth of 36%.

Hiring for Senior level roles with 11-15 years of experience increased by 16%. Leadership roles with experience of 16+ years witnessed growth of 51%.

The Index is a broad and comprehensive monthly and quarterly analysis of online job posting activity conducted by Monster India.