Employment trends: The oil and gas sector recorded a 22% employment increase in March 2024 despite an overall employment slump. Demand for AI/ML roles is on the rise – Industry News

India's white-collar job market fell by 11% year-on-year in March 2024, but one bright spot this month was hiring in the oil and gas sector. According to the Naukri JobSpeak Index, the oil and gas sector reported a 22% year-on-year increase in employment, with MEP engineers and electrical engineers in highest demand. Employment in this sector was particularly high in the cities of Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.

He added that employment in the pharmaceutical sector was slightly positive, increasing by 2% from the previous year. Employment activity in this sector witnessed significant growth in Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Baroda. “However, other key sectors such as IT, BPO and retail sectors saw employment trends decline by 16%, 6% and 5% year-on-year, respectively, according to the report.

Furthermore, unicorn startups are beginning to show renewed hiring appetite, with hiring within the sector increasing by 8% year-on-year. Among unicorns, the IT software/software services sector saw significant growth, with hiring activity increasing by 71% year-on-year. In terms of cities, Pune and Mumbai stand out as the epicenters of this trend, recording 51 per cent and 20 per cent year-on-year growth in recruitment activity for unicorn startups, respectively.

The Naukri Jobspeak Index for March 2024 was 2657, down 4% compared to the previous month and revised by 11% compared to March last year.

Demand for ML engineers and full-stack data scientists

The report's findings show that AI/ML roles continue to see hiring momentum, with new job creation increasing by 12% compared to March 2023.

Hiring for niche roles like machine learning engineers increased by 82% year over year in March 2024. Full Stack Data also reports that its Scientist role has seen a 20% year-over-year increase in hiring activity. This is in sharp contrast to the 16% year-on-year decline in overall IT sector employment in March 2024, the company said.

Senior Specialist Jobs

Senior professionals with 16 years or more of experience continue to have the greatest recruitment activity, with an 11% year-on-year increase in March 2024, the report said. However, entry-level professionals saw an 11 percent decrease in new job opportunities compared to March 2023. As a corollary, job openings in the range of annual salary above 2 million rupees increased by 16% in March 2024. last year. However, the number of new job openings with salaries below 12 million rupees is on the decline.

Trends in cities other than major cities

The Jobspeak Index has expanded its scope to include 13 new emerging cities, in addition to the six non-metropolitan cities that were previously reported. According to the findings, Jodhpur led the employment trend with 13% increase in new job creation compared to last year, followed by Rajkot, Raipur and Guwahati with 12%, 7% and 6% increase respectively. are doing. , comparison between March 2024 and last year. While metropolitan areas saw an overall decline in employment, employment sentiment remained positive in certain sectors, such as oil and gas, even in metropolitan areas.

Dr. Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer, Naukri.com said: Given the headwinds facing the IT sector, the company appears poised to end a difficult year. With the baseline correction now over and March showing some positive signs, positive trends for the next few quarters seem quite real. The demand for an experienced professional and his AI/ML talent in India is something everyone can cheer for a lot. ”