There has been a considerable downturn in the online job posting in August. Both the Naukri Job Speak Index and the Monster Employment Index for August saw a dip for the month of August, due to a slow pace in online recruitment activity.
The Naukri Job Speak index, after remaining flat for consecutive five months, saw a 4% dip in August 2012 when compared to July 2012. "This clearly shows that employers in the country seem to be embracing a cautious approach in their hiring activity as economic uncertainties and inflationary pressure continue to weigh down their sentiment," the report by the job site said.
As per the index, most industries which had forecasted a steady hiring scenario in the beginning of the year, have now started witnessing dipping hiring numbers. Construction and Engineering sector has seen the highest month on month dip with hiring activity going down by 13% in August when compared to July.
Similarly oil and gas, business process outsourcing (BPO), telecom and auto sectors saw recruitment levels dip within a range of 6% and 9% respectively over the same time period. Both Software services and Insurance have seen about a 2% dip in hiring activity in Aug-12 over Jul-12. On a positive note, Banking sector has seen 13% growth in recruitment activities over the last month probably because of increased hiring in the Public Banks category.
Similarly, the Monster Employment Index fell to 126 in August 2012 from 128 in July 2012. However, on year-on-year basis the index level rose five%. Monster Employment Index India is a monthly gauge of online job posting activity based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities culled from a large representative selection of career web sites and online job listings across India.
"Monster Employment Index continues to grow at a moderate pace owing to the cautious sentiment amongst employers in the current economic scenario. Some of the major sectors like telecom, IT-BPO, production and manufacturing are showing year-on-year decline," said Sanjay Modi, Managing Director, Monster.com (India/ Middle- East/ South East Asia).
Industry players are of the view that August has been a slow month in terms of hiring, due to the general slowdown in the economy. "The big sectors including IT and construction are playing it safe at this time. Hence, August has been one of the worst performers in terms of hiring compared to the last few years," said the chief executive of an HR firm.