White-collar hiring in India saw an 8.6% annual decline in September, according to Naukri.com's monthly Naukri JobSpeak Index.

In September 2023, there were 2,835 white-collar job postings, down from September 2022 when 3,103 jobs were posted.

On a monthly basis, white-collar hiring was up 6% in September.

By sector, the hospitality/travel sector grew by 22% over the year while BFSI (banking, financial services, insurance) and healthcare sectors recorded growth of 7% each in September 2023 over the same month last year. Oil & gas and auto were the other major sectors to register positive momentum in September 2023.

BPO/ITES and FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) sectors were some of the major sectors that registered declines of 25% and 23% respectively in September 2023 as compared to the same period last year.

The non-metro cities continued to outshine the metros for job creation in September 2023.  The cities of Vadodara, Ahmedabad, and Jaipur experienced 4%, 3%, and 2% growth respectively in hiring in September 2023 over the same month last year. While Vadodara did well in hiring for the BPO/ITES and Construction/Engineering sectors, Jaipur created the maximum number of jobs in the banking/financial Services sector.

The job market has shown preferences for experienced professionals in the latest month. The hiring for professionals with more than 16 years of experience jumped about 29% in September 2023 over September 2022. The hiring numbers for professionals with 13-16 years of experience increased by 11%. The new job offers for professionals with 8-12 years of experience and for people with 4-7 years of experience contracted by 2% and 19% respectively. The hiring of freshers decreased by 10% in September 2023.

Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer, Naukri.com, said, "While the IT sector continues to stay impacted, robust growth in the banking sector is a bright spot. Coupled with the fact that the overall index sequentially grew 6% vs. last month, this underscores the resilience of the Indian job market, anchored in sectoral diversity.”