Cautious optimism in Indian Employment Market

India Inc. is in the middle of fundamental and far-reaching changes, and is staring at automation, global protectionist sentiments and uncertainty in global politics right in the eyes. In such a dynamic and evolving environment, it becomes necessary to pause and look at the bigger picture, and see where we are headed. TeamLease Services, the staffing firm, recently released the ‘TeamLease Jobs & Salaries Primer 2017’ and the primer serves just the purpose to analyze overarching industry developments, especially in job creation. 

The primer, an annual report, “analyses a variety of attributes that govern the dynamics of the employment market – skills, salaries, increments and longevity in 17 key industry sectors. The functional domains analyzed are Accounts, Administration Blue Collar, Support Services, Engineering, Human Resources, IT and Sales & Marketing while the locations covered are Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune and Delhi.”

The report reveals that the job growth is expected this fiscal, and identifies ‘optimism’ as the dominating theme for Indian employment market. It states that the “Indian job marketplace is transforming and robust owing to fast diminishing salary variance, prized job profiles being rewarded with handsome increments and the expanding avenues for the jobs of tomorrow.” The report is rich in data related to job growth, salary increments and future projections of job creation. Following are the key findings of the same:

The report states that despite recent disruptions, and the current climate of uncertainty and challenges in certain sectors like Information Technology (IT), Telecom and e-Commerce, the steady pace of private and foreign investments have driven job creation in the economy.  Retail, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, media and entertainment, e-commerce and start-ups are reportedly the sectors that have significantly driven job and salary growth over the past year.

This has been anticipated as a direct result of the government’s focus to increase rural penetration and thereby inclusion of more people to the digital world, as smartphone sales soars.

The job growth is expected to be moderate in the IT/ITES sector, as a result of automation. Furthermore, power and energy has been identified as one of the ‘better growing sector’ and in expected to generate considerable jobs in 2017-18. Lastly, the FMCG sector has been pegged to generate nine million jobs over the next five years. 

Dealing with Demonetization

The primer also analyzes the impact of demonetization on various sectors, and concludes positive development on the front. It mentions that the sudden slow down, most notably in sectors like retail, will give way to growth soon. Specifically for the retail sector, the primer states that “the sector continues to attract capital investments owing to its strong market fundamentals.” Consequently, the sector is expected to generate millions of jobs in the next three-six years. However, the report says that sectors which were severely impacted by the disruptive policy cut back on incentives, whereas other sectors also gave out increments in moderation. Nonetheless, the future looks promising, as “the positive incubation climate is expected to lift the pall of gloom over the recently cash and funding strapped market and thus lift sentiment for enormous job creation opportunities over the medium term.

Banking and Financial Services Industry (BFSI) pips IT to give the best salary increments, at 18 percent. Although salaries have grown, and grown substantially in the recent times, the report says that ‘salary growth comes in spurts’. Of the nine cities included in the analysis, six cities and nearly 30 percent of the job profiles witnessed a double digit growth. Another interesting finding of the report is that variance between temporary and permanent salaries have narrowed sharply in six cities and seven sectors. Furthermore, the paramount importance of skills is highlighted as the report suggests that “salaries get even better correlated with skills as the discerning employer mine performance for value.” Lastly, the report suggests that blue collar job profiles are getting more sophisticated in terms of employer expectations as well as salaries. Rituparna Chakraborty, Co-Founder & Executive Vice President, says, “We are rather glad to learn and report that the Indian marketplace is gearing up for amplified job creation through private and foreign investments. It is heartening to see that major government initiatives are contributing positively towards job creation in sectors like telecom.” 

The findings of the primer are bound to bring cheer to employers and employees alike, as both are likely to benefit in the long run. As organizations find a way to stay aware and agile, there is no room for being complacent, especially when existentially-threatening challenges exist and are likely to deepen with time. One thing is certain; a combination of innovation, optimism, and adequate skilling seems to be potent enough to take any challenge head on.