White-collar hiring in India reached a total of 2,795 in June 2023, a decline of 3 per cent compared to June 2022 and a 2 per cent decline compared to May 2023, according to Naukri Jobspeak.
The major decline was in the tech sector and in the metros. The IT industry saw a 31 per cent decline in new jobs created compared to June last year. The decline in hiring was prominent across all types of IT companies, including global tech giants, large IT services companies, tech-focused startups, and unicorns. Hiring dipped across all metros and non-metros.
However, jobs in the real estate and energy sectors, especially in non-metros, mitigated this decline to yield an overall flat job market. Data show that the oil and gas sector continued its bull run, with 40 per cent growth in new jobs compared to June last year. The key roles witnessing maximum hiring include exploration engineers, refinery operations managers and health, safety, and environment specialists (HSE Specialists), predominantly in the Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Delhi NCR regions. Hiring in this sector is skewed towards professionals with mid-level experience.
Infra, real estate boom
The real estate sector continued its bull run with a 17 per cent growth in new job creation compared to June last year. Riding the infrastructure development and commercial real estate boom, Mumbai and Chennai surfaced as the key employment hubs for roles like property appraisers, construction project managers, and real estate consultants.
Additionally, sectors including pharma, automobiles, hospitality, and banking witnessed positive hiring sentiments with 12 per cent, 11 per cent, and 11 per cent growth in the new jobs created compared to June last year.
“The white collar job market of India is witnessing a structural shift. For a long time, jobs in the tech sector and in top metros were the key drivers of white collar job growth. Of late, jobs in the emerging sectors such as real estate, oil and gas, pharma and BFSI have emerged as significant contributors to job growth,” said Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer of Naukri.com.