India’s oil & gas/power sector saw an increase of 24% in October 2023 when compared to the same period a year ago, reports the Business Standard, citing data from the latest Naukri JobSpeak report. However, the IT sector saw a decline of 14% in hiring in the month as compared to October 2022. Overall, white-collar hiring in India stood at 2,484 in October 2023, slightly higher than the 2,455 recorded in October 2022. However, the gain in the index was due to the low-base effect and is expected to fall in the coming months.

Other sectors that reported growth include pharma research and development (19%) and banking/finance/broking (13%). On the other hand, the education sector reported a 10% decline while telecom saw a 9% annual decrease. The report further suggested that the market is now preferring experienced professionals over freshers.

Hiring for professionals with more than 16 years of experience jumped about 46% in October 2023 over October 2022. The hiring numbers for professionals with 13-16 years of experience increased by 26%. On the other hand, the new job offers for professionals with 8-12 years of experience and for people with 4-7 years of experience contracted by 9% and 10%, respectively. For people with experience of less than three years, the demand growth was flat.

“While Delhi-NCR and Mumbai clocked 5% and 4% growth in new job offers, Kolkata and IT-focused metros such as Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai saw de-growth of 6-11%," the report said. The fall was steepest in Chennai at 11%, followed by 9% in Bengaluru and 7% in Hyderabad. Among metro cities, Delhi saw a growth of 5% and 4% in Mumbai.