Hiring activity has witnessed a 14 % year-over-year growth in August 2021, according to the Monster Employment Index.

Monster has published its findings for August 2021, providing insights into the job market across industries, cities, functions and levels.

Data from the Index indicates that there has been a slight uptick in job posting activity in August 2021, with a 1% increase compared to the previous month, July 2021.

Overall job postings have improved by 14% year-on-year (August 2021 vs August 2020), indicating a strong recovery in the pipeline. Despite the impact of the second wave of the pandemic, job demand records a sequential growth of 5% in last six months.

August 2021 saw industries like Garments/ Textiles/ Leather, Gems & Jewellery (24%) and Production and Manufacturing (8%) grow at a considerable pace due to seasonal hiring demands with the onset of the festive season (Aug 2021 vs July 2021). Additionally, in terms of functions, Marketing and Communication (17%) witnessed the highest month-on-month growth, largely observed in metro cities. Further, hiring for Mid-Senior level roles (7-10 years) indicated a monthly growth of 3% in August 2021 as compared to July 2021.

Hiring activity in metropolitan cities such as Bangalore (59%), Hyderabad (34%), Pune (40%), Chennai (37%), Delhi-NCR (14%), and Mumbai (16%) noted a Y-o-Y uptick, largely driven by the IT- Hardware, Software industry. Coimbatore (7%) also showed promising growth in job postings among Tier-2 cities.

Garments/ Textiles/ Leather, Gems & Jewellery industries lead massive uptick in job posting activity due to festive demand.

As of August 2021, online hiring demand witnessed a positive month-on-month growth in Garments/ Textiles/ Leather, Gems & Jewellery (24%), followed by Production and Manufacturing (8%), Oil/Gas/Petroleum/Power (6%), Shipping/Marine (4%), and BPO/ITES (3%) industries. The surge in job postings could be attributed to the imminent festive season and seasonal hiring demands across industries. The Union Cabinet’s approval of the PLI scheme for Textiles is expected to further boost growth in the sector. Travel and Tourism (2%) which witnessed massive M-o-M growth in July 2021, continues to show a positive outlook in August 2021. However, industries such as Engineering, Cement, Construction, Iron/Steel (-7%), Agro based industries (-6%), FMCG, Food & Packaged Food (-5%), and Logistic, Courier/ Freight/ Transportation (-4%), which showed a slight improvement in the previous month, have witnessed a decline in job postings this month, as compared to July 2021.

A year-on-year (Aug 2021 vs Aug 2020) comparison indicates strong growth in e-recruitment activity in IT- Hardware, Software (39%), closely followed by Shipping/Marine (37%), and Telecom/ISP (36%) industries. Other industries such as Banking/ Financial Services, Insurance (33%), Production and Manufacturing (20%), and Retail (11%) also show a positive uptick in Y-o-Y hiring demand. However, industries that were deeply impacted by the second wave of the pandemic such as Travel and Tourism (-27%) and Education (-18%) continue to witness an annual decline.

Coimbatore observes year-on-year increase in hiring among Tier-2 cities with 7% incline, while metro cities continue to show positive growth in job posting activity

In the month of August 2021, city trends have seen moderate month-on-month growth in job postings across Mumbai (3%), Hyderabad (3%), Chennai (3%), and Coimbatore (2%). However, cities which faired reasonably well last month such as Kochi (-4%), Kolkata (-4%), Chandigarh (-1%), and Jaipur (-1%) witnessed a monthly decline in job posting activity (Aug 2021 vs July 2021).

On a year-on-year basis (Aug 2021 vs Aug 2021), demand for talent continues to flourish in metropolitan cities such as Bangalore (59%), Hyderabad (34%), Pune (40%), Chennai (37%), Delhi-NCR (14%), and Mumbai (16%), largely driven by the IT- Hardware, Software industry. The rapid growth of startups in metro cities and government initiatives such as Make-in-India have largely accounted for this growth. It is also notable that among Tier-2 cities, Coimbatore (7%) recorded a rise in hiring activity, while Jaipur (-20%), Kolkata (-16%), Baroda (-11%), Ahmedabad (-6%), and Chandigarh (-1%) witnessed a dip year-on-year.

In a month-on-month comparison, data from the Index indicates that the Marketing and Communication (17%) function witnessed the highest growth in job postings, largely observed in metro cities. Customer Service (2%), Software, Hardware, Telecom (2%), and Hospitality and Travel (1%) functions witnessed moderate incline, while Healthcare (0%) and Finance & Accounts (0%) showed muted growth as of August 2021 (Aug 2021 vs July 2021).

Online demand for professionals in Software, Hardware, Telecom (50%), Senior Management (35%), Marketing and Communications (15%) and Finance and Accounts (11%) continues to indicate a year-on-year increase in job postings (Aug 2021 vs Aug 2020). Functional roles in Customer Service (-27%), Healthcare (-13%), Sales & Business Development (-9%), and Hospitality & Travel (-4%) continue to struggle with the maximum year-on-year decline in job postings as of August 2021.

Hiring demand for Mid-Senior level roles (7-10 years) witnessed optimistic month-on-month (Aug 2021 vs July 2021) growth at 3%, closely followed by Intermediate roles (4-6 years) and entry-level roles (0-3 years) at 2% and 1% respectively. Hiring for Top management professionals (over 16 years), however, witnessed a decline (-2%) month-on-month.

In comparison to August 2020, August 2021 data shows that job postings for Top Management level professionals have witnessed highest growth at 70%. Mid-Senior level (30%), Intermediate level (27%), and Senior level (17%) also witnessed a positive uptick. However, Entry-level profiles witnessed only a slight year-on-year growth of 4% (Aug 2021 vs Aug 2020).

Sekhar Garisa, CEO - Monster.com, a Quess company said, “With India recovering from the second wave of the pandemic, there has been positive stable growth in job postings in the month of August 2021. Moreover, with the imminent festive and seasonal demand, we expect hiring activity to flourish in the coming months, as we have already seen in the Textile and Manufacturing industries. The hiring landscape across metropolitan cities has also been consistently on the rise since May 2021, across sectors.”