Online recruitment in India reported an 8% annual decline in February 2023, according to the latest foundit Insights Tracker.

The foundit hiring index lowered from 292 in February 2023 to 269 in February 2024.

Demand for jobs experienced a 3% month-on-month increase, following an index of 262 in January 2024.

As per the tracker, a sustained growth of 5% was recorded over the past three months.

“The consistently positive trajectory in both month-on-month (MoM) and the last three months provides compelling evidence of a steadily expanding employment market, indicating an elevated positive business sentiment from a mid to long-term perspective,” foundit stated. “Furthermore, the last six months have demonstrated robust growth in hiring activity, with a noteworthy growth rate of 5%.”

Out of the 27 industry sectors monitored by the tracker, seven exhibited an increase in recruitment activity between February 2023 and February 2024. On an annual basis, retail led growth with a 17% uptick in February, followed by travel and tourism at 15%.

On the other hand, agro based Industries reported a fall of 23%, the steepest among industries. This was followed by media and entertainment (-14%).

By job function, 3 out of 13 functional areas monitored by the tracker witnessed an uptick in hiring demand annually. The hospitality & travel function grew by 25% over the year, followed by marketing and communications at 2%. When it comes to hiring decreases, customer service reported a fall of 29% while arts and creative showed a decline of 19%.

Meanwhile, e-recruitment activity exceeded the year-ago level in 4 of the 13 cities monitored by the Index. Kolkata reported an 11% increase. Chandigarh reported a 37% decrease over the year.

Fresh graduate hiring saw a 12% annual drop in February 2024.