This Article is From Sep 27, 2009

Jobs, salary hikes are back again

New Delhi: After months of an economic slowdown, corporate India has started hiring again. While layoffs and salary cuts may not be the order of the day anymore, employers continue to be cautious. 

The latest data with job portal naukri.com shows that hiring activity has picked up 13 per cent in the first half of September and it is in double digits for the first time since last year. While some sectors like FMCG and healthcare are hiring in big numbers, others like IT, real estate, retail, media, advertising and exports still need to catch up.

Another survey by a global placement firm Manpower, shows that Indian employers are most optimistic about hiring among all the 35 countries surveyed. A quarter of India's firms are likely to expand their workforce in the October-December quarter. Many employers have even started handing out increments.

"Companies are recognising the fact that look employees have had to sacrifice. There were perhaps no increments, small increments, little increments and salary cuts. They were definite layoffs in the company. Now all that is over, environment is improving. I would not say that increments are as generous as two years ago, certainly not but its picking up," said Sanjeev Bhikchandani, co-founder and CEO of naukri.com.

After a complete lull in the job market in the first half of the year, the hiring sentiment has now improved across the board. While we may be recovering from the lows, we're still far away from the boom that we had seen before the slowdown had set in.
.