India's white-collar job market recorded an 11% year-on-year decline in March 2024, but there was a bright spot in hiring in the oil and gas sector this month. According to the Naukri JobSpeak Index, hiring in the oil and gas sector grew 22% over last year, with MEP engineers and electrical engineers the highest demand. Hiring in the sector was particularly high in the cities of Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.
“Employment in the pharmaceutical sector was marginally positive at 2 percent YoY,” it added. Hiring activity in the sector showed notable growth in Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Baroda. “However, other key sectors such as IT, BPO and retail sectors saw employment trends decline by 16 percent, 6 percent and 5 percent respectively YoY,” the report said.
Additionally, unicorn startups are beginning to show a renewed appetite for hiring, with hiring in this sector increasing by 8 percent year over year. Among unicorns, significant growth was seen in the IT software/software services sector, with recruitment activity increasing by 71 percent year-on-year. In terms of cities, Pune and Mumbai stand out as the epicenter of this trend, with unicorn startup recruitment activity registering 51 per cent and 20 per cent year-on-year growth 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
AI/ML occupations continue to see strong hiring momentum, with new job creation reportedly up 12% compared to March 2023, according to the report's findings.
Hiring for niche roles such as machine learning engineers increased 82% in March 2024 compared to last year. Full-stack data scientist roles also saw a 20% increase in hiring activity compared to last year. This contrasts with a 16% decrease in overall IT hiring in March 2024 compared to last year, the report said.
Senior Specialist Jobs
According to the report, hiring activity for senior professionals with more than 16 years of experience continued to be the highest, increasing by 11 percent in March 2024 compared to last year. However, new job openings for entry-level professionals declined by 11 percent compared to March 2023. As a result, job openings with an annual salary of more than INR 2 million increased by 16 percent in March 2024 compared to last year. However, new job openings with an annual salary of less than INR 1.2 million declined.
Trends in non-metropolitan areas
The Jobspeak Index has expanded its coverage to 13 new emerging metros in addition to the six non-metro cities already reported. According to the findings, Jodhpur led the employment trend with a 13% increase in new job creation compared to last year, followed by Rajkot, Raipur and Guwahati with increases of 12%, 7% and 6%, respectively, in March 2024 compared to last year. While metros saw an overall decline in employment, certain sectors such as oil and gas saw positive hiring sentiment even in metros.
Dr. Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer, Naukri.com said, “Based on the latest Naukri JobSpeak report and analysis, India's white-collar job market appears to be stabilizing as it closes a challenging year, given the headwinds faced by the IT sector. With the baseline correction behind us and some bright spots emerging in March, a positive trend in the coming quarters seems quite plausible. The demand for skilled professionals and AI/ML talent in India should be something everyone can be very excited about.”