White-collar hiring activity reported a modest 2% growth in November compared to the same month last year, mainly driven by sectors including oil and gas, artificial intelligence-machine learning (AI/ML), FMCG among others, a report said on Tuesday.
Naukri JobSpeak Index, an indicator of white-collar hiring activity, reported modest trends in November, coming in at 2,430 points, reporting a 2 % year-on-year growth.
This positive trend is driven by strong growths in key non-IT sectors like Oil and Gas (16 %), Pharma/Biotech (7 %), FMCG (7 %), and Real Estate (10 %), alongside sustained momentum in emerging domains like AI-ML (30 %) and global capability centres (11 %), the report said.
The IT sector remains steady, registering a flattish trend compared with last year.
In November, standout performers included Oil and Gas (14 %), Artificial Intelligence-Machine Learning (20 %), FMCG (6 %) and GCCs (4 %), highlighting the continued buoyancy in these domains.
Other sectors witnessed moderation in hiring activity, largely expected during the festive season, it added.
The Naukri JobSpeak is a monthly Index representing the state of the Indian job market and hiring activity based on new job listings and job-related searches by recruiters on the resume database of Naukri.com.
Meanwhile, regarding geographic locations, cities in Rajasthan sustained remarkable resilience.
Jaipur (14 %), Udaipur (24 %) and Kota (15 %) emerged as notable bright spots, wherein Jaipur saw a 20 % year-on-year growth in hiring by Foreign MNCs, it said.
Towards the eastern end, Bhubaneswar was impressive with a 21 % YoY increase, it said.
“We typically observe muted trends on white-collar hiring during the festive period and the 2 % growth in November broadly reflects that. However, the combined October and November trends reflect good resilience. Additionally, the rise in non-IT fresher hiring is a good development with respect to the younger talent,” Naukri.com chief business officer Pawan Goyal added.
