Hiring falls for 3rd straight month in September

Recruitment activities in India fell for the third consecutive month in September, indicating the underlying caution in the business environment, according to a survey by job portal Naukri.com.

For the month of September, the Naukri JobSpeak index stood at 1131, down 1.2 per cent compared to August, and registering a 6 per cent fall over the last three months.

The index indicates monthly job demand online.

"The job market has considerably slowed down over the last six months and key sectors are adopting a cautious hiring approach.

"The job market will hopefully start looking up once the GDP growth picks up momentum," Info Edge India managing director and chief executive officer Hitesh Oberoi said.

Naukri.com is part of Info Edge group.

An industry wise analysis shows that, while some sectors like construction, insurance and auto witnessed stable hiring levels, sectors such as IT, BPO and banking have seen a drop in hiring levels in September when compared to August.

Moreover, construction is the only sector to witness double digit growth (11 per cent) in hiring activity in September, the company said in a statement.

A city-wise analysis shows that all the top cities have seen lower hiring numbers over the last one month, barring Hyderabad and Pune which saw stable hiring levels, indicating caution in the business and recruiting environment.

Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai saw hiring activity dip by 5 per cent respectively in September when compared to August.

Delhi saw a marginal 1 per cent dip in hiring in September when compared to August, while Kolkata saw a 17 per cent decline, after three months of consecutive upward movement in the index.

Mirroring hiring trends, production and accounts sector professionals saw a marginal 2 per cent increase in their hiring numbers, while, IT and BPO sector, professionals saw hiring levels dip by 4 per cent respectively in September over August.