IT Slowdown Curtails Online Recruitment Activity in June: Report

New Delhi: Online recruitment activity in the country eased across sectors in June, largely because of a significant slowdown in IT, production and manufacturing sector, said a Monster.com report.

According to the latest Monster Employment Index (MEI), the online recruitment activities saw a 17 per cent year-on-year growth last month, lower than the past few months. The index had registered a 27 per cent rise in May.

"The MEI for June 2016 suggests that employment growth has eased in India across sectors," Sanjay Modi, MD, Monster.com, APAC & Middle-East, said.

Among the sectors monitored, the hiring activity in IT (Hardware and Software) slowed significantly, registering a 40 per cent year-on-year growth, 22 points lower than in May 2016.

"This decline could be as a result of the worldwide flat IT spending. Additionally, with the focus on automation in this sector, the hiring may not be linier," Modi added.

Moreover, despite the focus on 'Make in India', production and manufacturing sector was down 14 per cent - the steepest month-on-month decline among all monitored sectors.

With a 10 per cent progress, banking/financial services and insurance sector continued to grow at a moderated pace. The e-commerce segment also exhibited signs of slowdown last month. There was a month-on-month decline in opportunities by two per cent.

Going forward, Modi said, "with the FDI liberalisation and restructuring of the Cabinet at the center, optimism around recovery of the Indian job market can be restored."

Online demand increased for 10 occupation groups out of the 13 monitored by the Index and "there continues to be a high demand for Senior Management professionals. "Online demand at the Senior Management level exceeded the corresponding period a year-ago by 50 per cent," the report said.

In terms of cities, e-recruitment activity increased in 12 of the all 13 cities monitored by the Index. "Among the Tier II markets monitored by MEI - Jaipur (29 per cent), Chandigarh (39 per cent), Coimbatore (24 per cent) and Ahmedabad (28 per cent) - have witnessed a positive year-on-year growth," Modi said.

"This progress in e-recruitment could be due to the government's thrust on improving reach of digital technologies in such markets under the Digital India initiative," he added.