Hiring activity in India touches pre-pandemic level: Indeed

New Delhi, Aug 30 (IANS) The overall economic activity has shown signs of improvement, and for the first time in months, hiring activity in India is at a pre-pandemic level, according to a report by jobsite Indeed on Monday.

Job postings for IT tech software roles saw a 19 per cent increase between July 2020 and July 2021 as an expected outcome of the pandemic-induced digitisation.

Job posting for other IT job roles such as project head, engineer, also saw an increase of 8-16 per cent.

The easing of lockdown restrictions and the consequent reopening of spaces turned the focus on hygiene and sanitisation, increasing the demand for housekeepers, caretakers, housekeeping managers, custodians, executive housekeepers, and cleaners. These jobs saw 60 per cent growth between July 2020 and July 2021, the report said.

Further, the number of job roles in food and retail sectors, also witnessed an increase (52 per cent and 39 per cent respectively) in the same period, while the demand for roles in HR and finance grew by 27 per cent each.

"The reopening of the economy and the efforts by businesses to work around the challenges presented by Covid-19 have pushed the Indian job market towards recovery," Sashi Kumar, Head of Sales, Indeed India said in a statement.

"While the relevance of tech jobs continues to be high, the renewed demand for retail and food jobs indicates that the consumption economy will play an important role in driving job growth further. Meanwhile, hygiene clearly has become a top priority for both employers and job seekers," he added.

With the pandemic confining people to their homes for extended periods of time, physical and mental well-being have gained greater relevance than ever before. This reflected in an 89 per cent increase in clicks for applying for therapy jobs on Indeed between July 2020 and July 2021.

Interestingly, the number of clicks for veterinary jobs also saw a massive 216 per cent increase during the same period, followed by jobs in personal care (155 per cent), childcare (115 per cent) and dental (108 per cent).

Clicks for sanitation jobs, too, grew by 54 per cent, consistent with an increase in job postings by employers for such roles.

On the other hand, there has been a decline in job seekers' interest for roles in industries or functions like aviation (minus 25 per cent), media (minus 19 per cent), accounting (minus 8 per cent), customer relations (minus 7 per cent), and administration (minus 6 per cent), as was evident from the difference in the number of clicks on Indeed between July 2020 and July 2021, the report said.