Online recruitment across India rose by +19% during May, compared with the same month last year, registering the highest year-on-year growth since February 2013, according to the Monster Employment Index.

In May 2014 the Index was 151, on par with March and April 2014, but up against 127 in May 2013. The Index was launched in May 2010 with a base Index of 100.

The Monster Employment Index India is a monthly gauge of online job posting activity based on a real-time review of employer job opportunities culled from a large representative selection of career websites and online job listings across India. The Index does not reflect the trend of any one advertiser or source, but it an aggregate measure of the change in job listings across the industry.

Sanjay Modi, Managing Director of Monster.com in India, the Middle East, Hong Kong, and south east Asia, commented: “With a +19% growth in the overall hiring activity, which has been the highest since February 2013, Monster Employment Index reflects business optimism. Industry-wise, on a year-on-year comparison, there has been +59% growth in the Media & Entertainment industry, making it the top growth sector.”

“There is a great deal of overall sanguinity around the new government to revive the economic momentum and construct an investment friendly environment [to] enable [the] creation of new jobs,” Mr Modi concluded.  

The top growth industries, following Media & Entertainment, were Home Appliances (+58%), Travel & Tourism (+49%), and Office Equipment/Automation (+48%). Automotive/Ancillaries/Tyres reported the biggest fall, year-on-year, with -7%, followed by Education (-4%), and Non-Governmental Organisations (-2%).

All 13 occupation groups monitored by the Index reported growth, most notably Senior Management (+61%), Legal (+48%), and Marketing & Communications (+44%). Engineering / Production and Customer Services reported the smallest growth, of +5% and +10%, respectively.

Online job opportunities increased, year-on-year, across all 13 cities monitored by the Index. The strongest growth was reported in Bangalore (+37%), followed by Ahmedabad (+28%), and Pune (+28%). The only three cities not to report double-digit growth were Jaipur (+2%), Coimbatore (+2%), and Kolkata (+9%).