COVID-19 second wave: Hiring activity declines by 15pc sequentially in April, says Naukri jobs index

With lockdown-like restrictions in many states due to the second COVID-19 wave, hiring activity has declined by 15 percent sequentially in April, according to a report.

According to the Naukri JobSpeak Index, there were 2,072 job postings in April compared to 2,436 job postings in March.

"The disruption caused by the second wave of COVID-19 has impacted the hiring activity leading to a 15 percent sequential decline in April.

"However, the current impact on the job market is less severe than what we saw in April 2020, where the Naukri JobSpeak index declined by 51 percent monthly. This could be attributed to the lack of a strict nationwide lockdown being announced this time and the economy remaining open," Naukri.com Chief Business Officer Pawan Goyal said.

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The Naukri JobSpeak is a monthly index that calculates and records hiring activity based on the job listings on the Naukri.com website month-on-month.

Insurance (5 percent decline), pharma/biotech (-9 percent), and medical/healthcare (-10 percent) were among the less impacted sectors in April compared with March, it said.

The IT-software sector with a decline of 12 percent, which remained shielded and drove robust hiring over the past few months, declined less than the national average sequentially.

Other sectors such as FMCG (-15 percent) and telecom (-15 percent) declined in line with the overall hiring trend in April against March.

The retail sector — which grew in March — experienced a sharp decline of 33 percent in April due to restricted operating hours or closure, owing to lockdowns in many parts of India.

Sectors such as hospitality and travel (-36 percent), banking/finance (-26 percent), and teaching/education (-24 percent) remained highly impacted in hiring activity in April against March.

The jobs market across metro and non-metro cities saw a downfall, barring Kolkata that remained flat.

The aggressive surge of COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra directly impacted hiring trends in Mumbai, which saw a sequential decline of 20 percent in April.

While Delhi-NCR with a decline of 18 percent also remained impacted sequentially, followed by Bengaluru 10 percent, Chennai 10 percent, and Hyderabad 4 percent.

Jaipur with a dip of 25 percent and Chandigarh with 23 percent led to the decline in hiring in Tier-II cities, while Cochin with a decline of 5 percent remained the least impacted sequentially.

Interestingly, Ahmedabad — which was showing robust growth in hiring over the past few months — showed a decline of 12 percent in hiring in April compared with March, the report noted.

The shutdown of schools, hotels, and non-essential offices led to a sequential decline in demand for professionals in the teaching/education (-32 percent), hospitality (-32 percent), and marketing/advertising (-26 percent) domains in April.

Hiring activity across experience bands saw an average decline of 13 percent in April compared to March, it added.