Demand for talent across India in October 2020 registered a 16% year-on-year increment, according to the latest TimesJobs RecruiteX, a monthly recruitment index that records the demand and supply of talent in India’s formal jobs sector.

When compared to the previous month, talent demand was up 2% with a significant contribution from sectors such as healthcare, construction, manufacturing and projects/infrastructure.

The top three industries posting maximum talent demand (on a month-to-month basis) were: healthcare/ biotechnology/ pharmaceutical (12%), construction/cement/metal/steel/iron (8%), and manufacturing & engineering (7%).

Sanjay Goyal, Business Head TimesJobs and TechGig said, “There’s a substantial uptick in the talent demand posted by high-volume sectors like construction, manufacturing, automobiles and Infrastructure. Other than healthcare, these were the top five sectors to post maximum m-o-m growth in talent demand in Oct 2020.”

“Talent demand in these sectors was hit because of the Covid-19 lockdown but this growth in talent demand indicates that these sectors are preparing for a revival,” Goyal added. “The announcement of stimulus package 3.0 will further boost home buying and spur further growth in the construction sector. I foresee a similar trend in the talent demand for the construction sector in the coming months too, if the Covid wave 2&3 does not trigger another lockdown.”

The doctors/nurses/medical professionals profile registered the highest growth in October 2020 with talent demand up 14% month-on-month. Profiles related to Hospitality have been in steady demand since August 2020 when the sector was re-opened for business in Unlock 5.0.

Among locations, Lucknow emerged as the top talent hub in October 2020 with double digit growth in talent demand (26%), on a monthly basis. Chennai (15%) toppled Mumbai (11%) in October 2020, to be the top metro city to post the highest talent demand. 

Meanwhile, the demand for senior professionals with more than 20 years of work experience improved in October 2020, and jumped from (-20%) in September 2020 to (10%) in October 2020. This was followed by demand for people with 5-10 years of work experience (5%) and then by those with 10-20 years of work experience (2%).