People Matters Logo

Hiring activity declines by 62% in April 2020 as compared to April 2019: Naukri JobSpeak

• By Neelanjana Mazumdar
Hiring activity declines by 62% in April 2020 as compared to April 2019: Naukri JobSpeak

The Naukri JobSpeak Index for April 2020, at 951, marks a decline of 62% in hiring activity as compared to April 2019 at 2,477, led by the nation-wide lockdown due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Naukri JobSpeak Index (M-O-M)

The April’ 2020 decline in hiring is led by industries like Hotel/Restaurant/Travel/Airlines (-91%), Auto/Ancillary (-82%), Retail (-77%) and Accounting/Finance (-70%). The job market across cities registered a double-digit dip in hiring. The decline was led by metros wherein Delhi declined by 70% followed by Chennai (-62%), Kolkata (-60%) and Mumbai. (-60%). There was an across the board decline in hiring at varied experience levels with the entry-level experience bands (0 to 3 yrs exp) witnessing the sharpest decline of 67%. 

Key Highlights of Naukri JobSpeak for April 2020 vs April 2019

Hiring Trends - Industry

Besides de-growth in hiring in Hotel/Restaurants/Travel/Aviation by 91%, other key industries that showed a decline in hiring activity in April’ 2020 versus last year same time were - Auto/Ancillary (-82%), Retail (-77%), Accounting/Finance (-70%), BFSI (-67%), BPO/ITES/CRM/Transcription (-60%) and IT-Hardware (-60%).

However, hiring activity in Pharma/Biotech/Clinical Research (-54%), IT-Software/Software Services (-49%) and Insurance (-42%) was less impacted as compared to other industries in April’ 2020.

Hiring Trends – Functional Area

New jobs for professionals in the Ticketing/Travel/Airlines, Hotel/Restaurants and HR/Administration sectors witnessed a dip of 95%, 89%, and 78% respectively. Functional roles in Purchase/Supply Chain (-70%), Marketing/Advertising (-69%), Sales/Business Development (-69%) and Accounts/Finance (-68%) also witnessed a steep decline. 

However, new jobs for professionals in the IT-Software (-51%), BPO/ITES/KPO (-54%), Pharma/Biotech/Healthcare (-57%) and Teaching/Education (-56%) sectors were less impacted as compared to other sectors in April’ 2020.

Hiring Trends - Experience

Hiring across experience levels was also impacted in April 2020. The hiring for entry-level executives (0-3 yrs. exp.) and senior-level executives (4-7 yrs. exp.) saw a dip of 67% and 62% respectively. The middle management roles (8-12 yrs. exp.) roles declined by 55%, senior management roles (13-16 yrs. exp.) declined by 53% and leadership roles (16+ yrs. exp.) declined by 50%.

Hiring Trends - City

Recruitment across cities saw a double-digit dip during the month of April’20. Some of the hiring trends observed across key cities are as follows -