The Monster Employment Index India rose 2% in June, as online demand for workers continued its seventh month of expansion. Education saw the strongest increase in online job demand in June rising 9%. Production and manufacturing followed closely with a 7% rise in opportunities. Both sectors now appear to have gained steady momentum after experiencing sluggish growth rates in the previous months. Meanwhile, online hiring in the BFSI sector continued its gradual rise with 3% growth in June. The real estate sector, on the other hand, dipped in June while maintaining one of the steadiest three and six-month job growth rates at 52% and 47% respectively. Opportunities in the IT sector also declined 4% and turned negative for the first time since January 2010. The related ITES/BPO sector recorded 1% rise. Both industries however maintained robust three-month as well as six-month growth trends with the IT industry registering the strongest six-month growth of 66% among all industry sectors followed by engineering, cement, construction, iron/ steel.

The home appliance and automotive industry also witnessed a lull in online job demand in June despite maintaining strong six-month growth rates as recorded by the broader the consumer driven industries which have expanded steadily since December 2009. Meanwhile, the agro-based industry was the weakest sector in the June index declining 17%.

Online recruitment activity rose in seven of the 14 occupational groups monitored by the Index. Online demand for real estate workers; legal; HR and admin; hospitality and travel occupations rose by 8% each in June. Online opportunities for software/ hardware professionals also gained an additional 4 points over the previous month. Demand for engineers, manufacturing and production related personnel edged up further but at a slower rate of 5%. Nevertheless, this occupational group continues to lead all others in three-month and six-month growth rates. Meanwhile, despite a 3% month-on-month drop in June demand, finance and accounting occupations is now 18% above December 2009 levels.

Customer service sector, however, faced its third consecutive month of reduction coming down by 6% from the three months ago. Health Care registered the largest month-over-month decline of 7% in online demand in the Index. In totality, all fourteen occupational groups registered positive increases over a six-month period.

Among the 13 cities monitored by the Index, Kolkata saw the largest increase in June while Chandigarh saw the steepest decline, falling by 9%.