Hiring to remain steady in April-June: ManpowerGroup

MUMBAI: Indian employers expect hiring to remain steady in April-June time frame but project a considerably slower pace compared to last year, according to the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook survey.
The survey of 4,389 employers across India indicates that the hiring activity is expected to remain steady. However, the report said India’s Net Employment Outlook has dipped by varying margins for five consecutive quarters, and opportunities for job seekers are expected to be considerably weaker than they were a year ago at this time.
AG Rao, Group Managing Director of ManpowerGroup India said, “The hiring outlook will move at a slow but steady pace as the Indian companies gauge the impact of the ongoing global slowdown compounded by automation in the IT sector and talent scarcity for niche skills.However, there will be great demand for high- skill jobs for the new positions created by automation. The government is putting efforts towards creating jobs and making India a manufacturing hub. Budget 2017 is further expected to favor more foreign investments in India and initiatives like 'Make in India' should drive global companies to set-up manufacturing facilities in India."
“Today companies are moving towards artificial intelligence & are best utilizing technology to drive innovation in order to support the successful integration of new technology. In the current employment scenario, job-seekers need to up-skill and diversify into new areas. Skills adjacency, agility and learnability — all of these characteristics are crucial to demonstrating the desire and ability to learn new skills to become and stay employable throughout long career journeys,” said Rao.
The strongest hiring prospects, according to the report, are in the services sector where employers report a Net Employment Outlook of +22%. Healthy hiring activity is also forecast by employers in two sectors with Outlooks of +21% – the public administration & education sector and the wholesale & retail trade sector.
While the manufacturing sector employers expect steady payroll gains, reporting an Outlook of +16%, finance, insurance & real estate sector and the mining & construction sector report +15% outlooks.