Corporate India’s Hiring Outlook for July-September. Most optimistic in 8 years: Survey
India’s job market looks optimistic with 63% of companies planning to add more employees over the next three months to speed up the recovery process and sustain economic growth, a survey said on Tuesday. .
According to the Manpower Group Employment Outlook Survey, the labor market is showing strong sentiments with a net employment outlook of 51% in the third quarter of 2022 (July-September), which is a record high in 8 years.
The Net Employment Outlook takes the percentage of employers anticipating an increase in total employment and subtracting from it expecting to see a decrease in employment in its place in the next quarter.
For the September quarter, 63% expect an increase in their staffing level, 12% expect a reduction in hiring intent and 24% do not expect any change, resulting in a seasonality of 51%. Adjusted net employment outlook.
“Despite rising inflation and geopolitical instability, there is a positive sentiment across sectors in India to accelerate the recovery process and sustain the country’s economic growth,” said Sandeep Gulati, Managing Director, ManpowerGroup India.
Compared to the same period last year, the hiring sentiment has improved by 46 percentage points, compared to a 13 percentage point increase over the April-June period, indicates a survey of over 3,000 employers in India.
The survey further noted that employers anticipate strong demand for talent in key sectors, and digital roles drive the most demand. IT and technology reported the strongest outlook (68%), followed by banking, finance, insurance and real estate (60%), other services (52%), restaurants and hotels (48% and manufacturing (48%) .
Gulati said, “The demand for Indian IT workforce across the globe coupled with the growing need for digitization, automation and tech enabled services in our country will keep the IT and technology sector at the top of the charts in the Indian job market.”
In the Asia Pacific region, the strongest intentions to recruit were reported in India (51%), Singapore (40%) and Australia (38%). Whereas, Taiwan (3%), Japan (4%), and Hong Kong (11%) reported the weakest hiring intentions.
Meanwhile, the recruitment prospects have strengthened for all the four regions of the country as compared to the last quarter and the same period last year. Hiring speed is similar in 3 out of 4 regions (North, West and South) where the net employment outlook is 53%. The survey said the outlook for the former was 41%.
Recruitment optimism is being undermined by the highest level of global talent shortage in 16 years, according to the survey. “Shifting demographics, which include declining birth rates and an increase in early retirees, mean talent is more scarce than ever,” it said.
Employers report difficulty filling open roles, with the most impact being felt in Taiwan, Portugal, Singapore, China, Hong Kong and India.
On the shortage of talent and the difficulties faced in finding the required soft skills to match the job, Mr. Gulati said, “We are facing an unprecedented demand supply gap as indicated by our Talent Shortage Survey. In order to bridge this, we are facing an unprecedented demand supply gap. Re-training and upskilling the workforce for the purpose of interoperability should be a top priority for employers as well as industry players like us.” The top five soft skills that organizations have a hard time finding include creativity and originality, critical thinking and analysis, reasoning and problem solving, leadership and social influence, and initiative.
