According to jobs portal Indeed.com, hiring activity is at pre-pandemic levels of February 2020, with jobs getting created in sectors that are doing well post the reopening of the economy. (Representational image)

With most parts of the country emerging from a lockdown, hiring in August was brisk, rising 26% year-on-year to 2.78 lakh. The numbers may have been a shade softer than in July — 4% lower — but HR consultants believe there’s no cause for concern given the recruitment trajectory remains positive.

The good news is that full time opportunities contributed to 94% of the overall active jobs.

Indeed, the sharp increase y-o-y is significant since August 2020 was the recovery month last year after a weak June and July. The lowest action months on record are June and July 2020, with 1.32 lakh and 1.42 lakh active jobs respectively, according to data sourced from Xpheno, a Bengaluru-based specialist staffing firm.

Moreover, what’s encouraging is that the 2.60 lakh active full-time opportunities in August, are the third highest in the last 18 months. The highest count was 2.7 lakh in July and before that of 2.67 lakh in March. Kamal Karnath, co-founder, Xpheno, observed it’s a sign of confidence that enterprises are hiring full-time resources as part of their capacity and capability expansions.

According to jobs portal Indeed.com, hiring activity is at pre-pandemic levels of February 2020, with jobs getting created in sectors that are doing well post the reopening of the economy.

The momentum is surely building up since March, said Suraj Moraje, MD and Group CEO, Quess Corp, adding its clients have grown their headcount by 4% over the last 15 months, since the pandemic broke out. “ The trend is pretty much secular with IT services, manufacturing and even education hiring now. However, retail, hospitality, travel and airlines etc are still slow,” he said.

Job postings for IT tech software roles saw a 19% increase y-o-y, an expected outcome of the pandemic-induced digitisation. Job postings for other IT roles such as project head, engineer, also saw an increase of 8-16%, according to Indeed.com.

Karnath observed that along with over 1.5 lakh job additions committed to by top IT service players, over 2.5 lakh additions are on the cards for the year across industries and marquee enterprises. “Hiring volume and velocity remain positive and more action is projected as these announcements become action plans in the months ahead,” Karanth said.

It is not just white-collar jobs but some blue collar roles too have seen a pick- up in hiring as a result of easing of lockdown restrictions. Demand for housekeepers, caretakers, housekeeping managers, custodians, executive housekeepers, and cleaners grew 60% y-o-y in August. The number of jobs in food and retail sectors, too, witnessed an increase of 52% and 39% respectively while the demand for roles in HR and finance grew by 27% each.

Sashi Kumar, head of sales, Indeed India said the reopening of the economy and the efforts by businesses to work around the challenges presented by Covid-19 have pushed the job market towards recovery. “While the relevance of tech jobs continues to be high, the renewed demand for retail and food jobs indicates the consumption economy will further drive job growth,” he said.