Employers in India to begin new yr with robust hiring plans

"Hiring pace in India has remained at a brisk to dynamic level since the fourth quarter of 2009," staffing services firm Manpower India Head - Sales Operations and Marketing Namr Kishore said.

He said Indian employers in every industry sector and every region surveyed indicate they plan to continue adding to their payrolls in the first three months of the New Year. According to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, India had a net employment outlook of 42 per cent, a jump of five percentage points year-on-year.

All seven industry sectors and all four regions, report positive hiring plans in the coming three months, says Manpower India. Services and manufacturing sector can look forward to the most vigorous hiring pace, while the weakest – but still robust – hiring plans are reported by employers in finance, insurance, real estate, mining and construction and wholesale and retail trade sector, the report added.

Meanwhile, other consultancy firms such as -- Antal International and Naukri.com -- are also bullish on their outlook for the Indian labour market. According to recruitment firm Antal International, the July-September period has witnessed a smart surge in hiring activities that is likely to remain bullish in the December quarter as well.

HR consultancy Naukri.com believes hiring would start looking up in the next three months with new budgets and plans kicking in from January onwards in many companies. Kishore said 2010 was a significant year with India reporting a robust growth momentum and the domestic market picking up.

"We are moving into 2011 with a lot of confidence that it will be a better year than 2010," he said. Hiring sentiment in 2011, will only improve or would remain stable, because there are no signs of a slowdown in domestic demand.

"People can expect in 2011, a better scenario for earnings both for corporates and individuals," Kishore added. Employer hiring expectations in Asia Pacific continue to be strong, he said
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Regional hiring plans continue to be strongest in India, China and Taiwan and weakest in Japan, despite a cautious optimistic forecast from employers, the Manpower report says.

Over the world, employers in 32 of 39 countries and territories surveyed expect varying degrees of positive hiring activity in the first three months of 2011, with those in India, China, Taiwan, Brazil, Turkey and Singapore reporting the strongest hiring plans.

"The bright spot in Europe continues to be Germany, where the unemployment rate is at its lowest in 18 years and engineers and financial professionals continue to be in high demand," Manpower Inc Chairman and CEO Jeffrey A Joerres said.

Out of 9,117 companies surveyed by Antal International across 52 countries, 76 per cent of organisations in India made active hirings in the July-September quarter of the calendar year.

"The market is expected to remain strong, with the percentage of companies planning to hire over the next three months even higher at 81 per cent, with increased jobs in healthcare, manufacturing, real estate and IT/ITES during the fourth quarter (October-December)of the year," Antal noted.

"For chief executives and HR directors around the globe, the key business challenge is already shifting away from headcount reduction or containment to how to source the talent they will need in improving markets," Antal International CEO Tony Goodwin said.

Globally, Asia stands out as the healthiest jobs market for managers and professionals with 86 per cent hiring trend in Thailand, China (81 per cent ), Philippines (80 per cent) and Singapore (79 per cent).

Interestingly, Pakistan's relatively poor performance at just 62 per cent also remains impressive by global standards.

On a month on month basis, however, there is a marginal decline of 3 per cent, as per the Naukri Job Speak index for November 2010.

"With new budgets and plans kicking in from January onwards in many companies hiring should start looking up again in the next quarter," Info Edge India, which owns job portal naukri.com, CEO and MD Hitesh Oberoi said.

Overall, the Naukri Job Speak index seems to have stabilised at an elevated level indicating a positive hiring sentiment across most markets and industry sectors for the coming months.

A city wise analysis shows that in November, Kolkata, Delhi and Chennai maintained steady hiring levels while Bangalore and Mumbai witnessed 5 per cent dip in the index, respectively when compared to the previous month.

Pune and Hyderabad registered monthly declines of 20 per cent and 11 per cent in November this year as against October 2010.