White collar hiring dip 3% in June on cautious recruiter sentiments: Report

Mumbai: White collar jobs witnessed a 3 per cent annual decline in June due to cautious recruiter sentiments in sectors including IT, BFSI, manufacturing, according to leading talent platform foundit.

Sectors such as IT (- 19 per cent), BFSI (- 13 per cent), Home Appliances (- 26 per cent), and Production/ Manufacturing (- 14 per cent) have not yet bounced back to last year’s hiring numbers, despite the monthly positive incline seen in a few of these industries, it said.

The foundit Insights Tracker (fit), earlier known as Monster Employment Index, is a monthly analysis of online job posting activity based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities.

However, on a month-on-month basis, there was a 2 per cent growth, which indicated a resurgence in online hiring activity across key industries.

Positive e-recruitment activity was observed in June 2023, on a month-on-month basis, with sectors such as healthcare (11 per cent), BPO (7 per cent), production and manufacturing (5 per cent), and logistics (9 per cent) leading the way, the report said.

"It is encouraging to see a positive upturn in hiring activity across a majority of industries we track. Jobs in segments such as healthcare, manufacturing, and even IT have returned, and we expect to see better hiring intentions in the coming quarter as companies revisit their talent requirements," Sekhar Garisa, CEO - foundit (previously Monster APAC & ME), a Quess company, said.

Continuous upskilling and adaptation to changing industry needs is a necessity to grow in the current market environment and as seen during any global slowdown, India Inc exhibited cautious hiring sentiments but this is bound to bounce back with time, he added.

In terms of cities, metro fared well with an overall 3 per cent hiring growth in June, while recruitment across tier-II cities dipped by 2 per cent.

Across experience levels, demand for freshers (with 0-2 years) on a monthly basis stabilised, while top management roles (over 15 years) saw maximum growth of 4 per cent.

Senior level roles (11-15 years) saw a marginal 1 per cent growth, while demand for mid-senior (7-10 years) and intermediate (4-6 years) level professionals registered a 2 per cent increase each.