The Naukri JobSpeak Index, which tracks white-collar hiring trends, showed growth in October 2024, reflecting a 10% year-on-year increase. Additionally, roles in AI/ML experienced a year-on-year growth of 39% and a month-on-month increase of 2%. The IT sector has seen positive growth in four out of the last seven months of this fiscal year, suggesting a favourable outlook for the remainder of the year.

The AI/ML sector maintained its momentum in October 2024. ML Engineer roles saw a 75% YoY growth. IT unicorns a 28% increase in white-collar hiring. At the same time, foreign MNCs and Global Capability Centers (GCCs) in the IT sector, which had relatively slower growth through the year, showed a jump of 5% and 10%, respectively. Both AI/ML and IT unicorns have maintained positive growth trajectories throughout 2024, the Index pointed out.

Overall, GCCs demonstrated consistent growth, with a 17% YoY increase in October. They showed traction in emerging hubs like Kolkata (+68.46%) and Ahmedabad (+47.68%), indicating a growing preference among international companies to expand beyond traditional tech centres for their India operations.

The festive period also witnessed significant growth in data-focused positions: Data/Big Data Testing Engineer (+64%), Full-Stack Data Scientist (+46%), Data Platform Engineer (+26%), and Data Scientist (+23%).

On the other hand, southern states demonstrated growth in white-collar hiring, with multiple cities showing strong year-on-year gains. Tamil Nadu emerged as a standout performer with a 24% YoY growth, followed by Telangana (+16%), Karnataka (+12%), Andhra Pradesh (+9%) and Kerala (+7%).

Hyderabad and Chennai were amongst the top cities for hiring in the Research and Analytics industry, showing growth of 51% and 50%, respectively. Cochin led the chart for the BFSI industry, registering a 40% YoY growth.

After a sluggish performance throughout 2024, hiring for freshers showed improvement, with a 6% year-on-year growth in October. Key growth drivers included Architecture/Interior design (+57%), KPO/Research/Analytics (+39%), and Agriculture/Dairy (+36%)

Tier II cities led this growth, with Coimbatore (+31%) and Jaipur (+15%) showing maximum increases in fresher hiring.

Alongside, senior roles and strategic hires continue to drive job market growth. The 16+ years experience band registered a significant 23% YoY growth, while the hiring for Strategic & Top Management roles also posted a 21% increase in October 2024.

FMCG and the pharmaceutical/biotechnology sectors also intend to hire experienced professionals, with the former recording a 25% year-on-year growth in hiring for the band with 16+ years of experience. The Pharmaceutical sector saw 17% growth in this category and a 26% growth in the 13-15 years’ experience bracket.

Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer of Naukri, commented, “We’re now experiencing sustained YoY growth, with Jobspeak revealing consistently positive trends over the past few months. We’re particularly thrilled to see synchronized expansion across IT and Non-IT sectors. The accelerating pace of fresher hiring is a strong indicator of business confidence and presents exciting opportunities for upcoming graduates.”

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