Hiring activity remains flat in February 2020: Report

Mumbai, Mar 12 () Hiring activity remained flat during February compared to the same month last year, mainly due to sluggishness in sectors like insurance, hospitality and travel, according to a report.

The Naukri JobSpeak Index stood at 2,414 in February 2020, compared to 2,415 in the same month last year. Naukri JobSpeak is a monthly index which calculates and records hiring activities based on the job listings on Naukri.com website.

According to the report, the flat trend was primarily led by a decline in growth rates across sectors such as insurance (-23 per cent), hotel/ restaurants/airlines/travel (-18 per cent), auto /auto ancillary (-16 per cent) and recruitment/employment (-15 per cent) compared to February 2019.

Despite a flat trend in hiring activity, crucial industries like accounting/ taxation/ finance, education/ teaching/training, BPO/ITES and IT-software recorded growth of 14 per cent, 12 per cent, 9 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively.

The job market in Hyderabad picked up 5 per cent, whereas other cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Delhi NCR and Pune declined over the past year.

Hiring activities for entry-level jobs (0-3 years) saw a positive growth, while mid-level executives, senior and leadership roles saw a decline in February 2020 versus last year, it added.

"The economic slowdown in a few sectors has impacted the overall hiring activities. However, the recruitment growth in sectors like accounting/finance, BPO/ITES, IT-software and education/teaching, which employs a large pool of jobseekers in the country remains buoyant, which is a positive sign," Naukri.com Chief Business Officer Pawan Goyal said. SM ABMABM