700K gig roles to be created for ongoing festival season this year

With e-commerce sales in full swing amid the ongoing festival season this year, job creation across the country is expected to far surpass that of last year. 

As many as 400,000 gig roles have already been created in the country so far. And, this number is expected to touch 700,000 by the end of the year, estimates from staffing firms suggest.

The number of gig roles has already surpassed the total number of jobs created during the whole festival period last year. The year 2022 saw 400,000 such roles created between September and December.

“The incremental demand for workforce during the festival season this year is about 40 per cent higher than what it was last year,” said Balasubramanian A, vice-president and business head (consumer and healthcare), TeamLease Services, a staffing platform.

The increased job openings are primarily being fuelled by the flagship sale events hosted by e-commerce platforms.

E-commerce major Amazon India, for instance, recently announced that it has created more than 100,000 seasonal job opportunities across its operations network for the Indian festival season. These opportunities include direct and indirect jobs across India in cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow and Chennai.

Likewise, its Walmart-owned rival, Flipkart, also previously said that it will generate over 100,000 new job opportunities across its supply chain, including fulfilment and sortation centres, and delivery hubs, during the period.

Flagship sale events for both Amazon (Amazon Great Indian Festival) and Flipkart (The Big Billion Days) are underway from October 8. Sales by other e-commerce firms like Meesho and Snapdeal are also live.

“The World Cup alone is expected to create an additional 100,000 jobs, most of which will comprise gig workers in the delivery space, transportation, hospitality and event management,” Balasubramanian added.

Hiring has seen a steady increase over the last few months, in the lead up to the festival season.

According to data from talent platform Foundit, on a month-on-month (M-o-M) basis, hiring in the home appliances industry grew over 11 per cent in September, while the retail sector saw an increase of more than 9 per cent.

The number of new jobs is only expected to rise, going forward, into the rest of the year. However, the bulk of these will be gig or temporary roles, data from staffing firms suggests.

“As consumer discretionary spending sees an uptick alongside the approaching festival and wedding season, various industries will encounter a heightened requirement for additional workforce. In the span of just July-August, we have already observed more than 70,000 job openings within these sectors. We foresee this trend persisting until December 2023,” said Sachin Alug, chief executive officer (CEO), NLB Services, a workforce solutions provider.

For instance, the e-commerce sector is expected to see a 30 per cent increase in demand this year, while demand in the retail sector is likely to go up 25 per cent. Sectors like banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) and telecom are expected to witness a demand uptick of 20 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively, according to NLB’s projections.

The primary demand emanates from Tier-1 cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, and Pune. It also comes from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities such as Lucknow, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Amritsar, Guwahati, Bhubaneswar, Visakhapatnam, Raipur, Indore, Jamshedpur, Coimbatore, and Gwalior.

Likewise, jobs and professional networking unicorn (company valued over $1 billion) Apna.co has also witnessed a substantial 15 per cent spike in the demand for a gig workforce, especially in the logistics and warehousing sectors. The demand for delivery personnel on the platform has increased by 40 per cent, compared to the same period last year.

Regardless, firms operating in the third-party logistics (3PL) space, especially last-mile deliveries, are expected to be the biggest beneficiaries of the uptick in gig roles. As such, companies like Ecom Express, a logistics unicorn, are expecting a 50 per cent surge in its gig workforce during the festive season over last year. 

Similarly, iThink Logistics, another logistics player, is anticipating a 20-30 per cent increase in demand. It expects a revenue boost of 10-15 per cent for the period, Business Standard had reported earlier.