India’s hiring activities holding up better than many economies: Report

India has been holding up better in hiring than other economies as the Covid-19 pandemic has caused disruptions across the globe with reports of layoffs, furlough and organisations freezing their hiring intentions across sectors, according to a report.

The trend in job postings was roughly in line with last year’s trend until the second week of March, global job site Indeed said in a report adding that the slowdown accelerated in the second half of March and through April to May, reflecting lockdowns on economic activities.

As of mid-June, job postings on Indeed India declined by 51 per cent than in 2019, the report stated.

Among global markets, hiring activities in the UK declined by 60 per cent and 61 per cent in Mexico and a few countries in Europe, it added.

However, India is worse off than countries, including the US where the job postings have declined by 29 per cent, Singapore by 32 per cent and Australia by 42 per cent, it added.

The report is based on data available on the Indeed platform during February till May, during which Covid-19 pandemic began disrupting the economies globally.

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The impact of Covid-19 has not been evenly spread across sectors as some of them like software technology, medical professional and marketing have experienced a surge in job postings.

Similarly, jobs including delivery and IT manager saw a steady increase as well, each tracking well above February 2020, it added.

However, a few sectors have experienced sharp falls in hiring activities, reflecting the widespread shutdown of economic activities.

The hardest-hit sectors include childcare where the job postings declined by 78 per cent compared with last year’s trend, food preparation by 78 per cent, hospitality and tourism 77 per cent and cleaning and sanitation 74 per cent.

Meanwhile, job seekers across the country are showing greater interest in working remotely amid the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.

Job seekers are increasingly searching for terms like ‘remote’, ‘work from home’ and related phrases, it revealed.

Searches for remote work have also increased by over 380 per cent as a share of all searches on Indeed India from February-May.

“As the hiring activities rate continues to fall, it is more important than ever to take charge of your own job search. The average recruiter looks at a resume for only six seconds.

“So, job seekers must showcase what’s special about themselves as human beings and as workers to get their attention in an increasingly crowded world of applicants, Indeed India Managing Director Sashi Kumar added.