Online hiring activity in December up 5 per cent on month: report

Online hiring activity in India registered a 5.46 per cent growth in December, 2013 compared with the previous month, signalling that employers are optimistic yet cautious while hiring, according to a survey by job search portal Monster.

Monster.com's employment index, a monthly gauge of the country's online job demand, rose by 7 points (5.46 per cent) to 135 in December, from 128 in November, 2013.

On a year-on-year basis, however, the index has seen a slight decline of an index point at 135 in December 2013, from 136 in the same month a year ago.

"Monster Employment Index India continues to chart sluggish growth with recruitment activity marginally lower than the year-ago level," Monster.com managing director (India/Middle East/South East Asia) Sanjay Modi said.     

While there is a long way to go before it catches up the pre-recession level, the situation appears to be gradually improving as the Index exhibits positive growth on the month, he added.

Since September, 2013, the index is showing an improvement on a month-on-month basis.

Recent reports show confidence among businesses regarding the coming quarter but they are likely to adopt a cautious approach while hiring, Mr Modi further said.

On year-on-year basis, online recruitment activity exceeded the year-ago level in 13 of the 27 industry sectors monitored by the Index.

IT - hardware, software sector exhibited the highest annual growth among sectors (up 22 per cent), while NGO/social services showed steepest annual decline (down 17 per cent).

Meanwhile, online demand improved in six of the 13 occupation groups monitored by the index between December, 2012 and December, 2013.

Software, hardware, telecom professionals saw the most notable growth in demand (up 22 per cent) among all occupations groups between December, 2012 and December, 2013.

A city-wise analysis showed that online opportunities exceeded the year-ago level in nine of the 13 cities monitored by the Index.

Ahmedabad was the only city to register a double-digit year-on-year growth rate (up 13 per cent), while Baroda (down 30 per cent) registered the most significant year-on-year decline followed by Jaipur (down 12 per cent).