Mumbai: White-collar hiring grew marginally by 2 per cent year-on-year in September, mainly driven by record growth in AI/ML roles, followed by the auto sector, a report said Friday.
White-collar hiring remained largely steady in September, growing 2 per cent year-on-year, with the Naukri JobSpeak Index reaching 3,053 compared to 3002 in the year-ago month, according to a report by Naukri.com, Info Edge’s flagship brand.
The Naukri JobSpeak report is a monthly index that tracks trends in India’s job market and hiring activity, based on new job postings (including free job listings) and recruiter searches on Naukri.com’s platform.
The report revealed that Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) roles continued to record growth, rising 20 per cent in September, while the Auto sector grew 11 per cent.
BPO/ITES and GCC hiring grew 4 per cent each during the month, the report added.
Among other key sectors, Insurance, Retail, Banking and Financial Services and Real Estate remained largely stable, while hiring declined across IT/Software Services (4 per cent), Pharma/Biotech (4 per cent), FMCG (4 per cent) and Healthcare (3 per cent).
Hospitality and Travel (11 per cent) and Education (18 per cent) recorded sharper declines, the report added.
Meanwhile, hiring remained largely stable at the entry and early-mid career levels, with fresher hiring witnessing an increase of 1 per cent year-on-year and the 4-7 years experience band declining by 2 per cent.
Demand continued to remain stronger for experienced professionals, growing 5 per cent for 8-12 years, 7 per cent for 13-16 years and 5 per cent for over 16 years.
Among metros, Hyderabad recorded 9 per cent year-on-year growth, followed by Chennai at 6 per cent, and Bengaluru and Kolkata at 4 per cent each.
While Pune remained stable, Delhi-NCR and Mumbai declined 6 per cent each; hiring growth across emerging cities remained largely flat in September.
“September’s numbers reflect a hiring market that remains steady, but more selective. While overall hiring was broadly stable, demand continued to move towards specialised skills, particularly AI, and more experienced professionals.
“The variation across sectors and cities also highlights that hiring is increasingly being driven by specific business and capability needs,” Info Edge (India) Limited MD and CEO Hitesh Oberoi said.
PTI