New Year bonanza: Jobs mkt eyes 8.75 L hiring in formal sector

The New Year is expected to bring good news for job seekers with the country's organised sector set to generate about 8.75 lakh new jobs, though the average salary hike is likely to be in single digit, say experts.

The hiring outlook for India got a significant blow post- demonetisation and segments like real estate, construction, infrastructure and high-end automobiles are expected to be impacted in the longer term, experts said but will eventually benefit by creating more "formal" jobs.

According to the latest results of MyHiringClub.com & JobPortal.co.in Employment Trend Survey (MJETS) 2017, that covered 6,790 companies across 12 industry sectors in 21 major cities, the organised sector in India is set to create about 8.75 lakh new jobs in 2017.

"In current economical and political condition manufacturing & engineering sector is the top list to create more new jobs in 2017," Rajesh Kumar, CEO, MyHiringClub.com & JobPortal.co.in said. Kumar said that "tier II and tier III cities will create more new jobs compare to metros with companies preferring to set-up their units in these cities compared to metros and attrition will be lowest in 2017 since last 5 years".

As per survey, Indian employees are expected to see an overall projected salary increase of 9 per cent per cent. Projected salary increases were highest in the manufacturing and engineering sector at 9.9 per cent, followed by banking and financial services at 9.7 per cent, while the lowest sectorial increments were in hospitality sectors at 5.3 per cent.

Though overall job market outlook looks a little bleak, top performers would have little to worry as companies would look at retaining talent as they would want to avoid cost incurred in hiring new talent, experts said.

According to workforce solutions provider Kelly Services India Managing Director Thammaiah BN, more global product companies are expected to setup their offshore operations in India creating a demand for skilled resources.

"We also expect a boost in contract jobs and skilled employees will be sought after. Central government's programmes such as Digital India, Smart Cities will see more companies capitalising on this opportunity. We expect 30,000 – 50,000 new IT jobs being added in 2017," it said.

Moreover, process, industrial sectors will also see an increase in employment because of urban infrastructure growing and the focus on smart cities. Building materials, cements, automation and the plastic sector will also see an increase in employment. Overall, these sectors will create upwards of 1,50,000 jobs in 2017, Thammaiah added.

The two key factors that are likely to impact certain sectors in the New Year are the Centre's demonetisation move and the election of Donald Trump as US President.
Some experts said that with Trump's emphasis on bringing jobs back to the US, his anti-immigrant stand and his stated aversion for H-1B Visa might have a negative impact on the Indian IT industry.

"On the surface it may seem that some manufacturing jobs may move back to the US, I believe the net impact will be positive, as the investments are stepped up," Suresh Raina, Managing Partner Hunt Partners, leadership talent advisory firm said. Moreover, Trump's anti-China stand also helps improved focus on India, again a positive. Indian industry including chemical, pharmaceuticals and engineering will be positively impacted by this shift, Raina said.

Post demonetisation, the positive side would see banks able to source fresh capital to give more loans to companies and strengthen economic growth. Sectors with a positive outlook for hiring will be Fintech, Infrastructure, and Financial Services including both small savings and payment banks. "Digital payments have taken off, download of wallets has quadrupled in last few weeks. Payment banks and others in the transaction ecosystem will benefit," Raina added.

HR experts believe, the sectors that are likely to be in focus next year include big data and analytics as companies would need help to make sense of all of the data generated by technological disruptions. With people moving towards Internet of things (IoT) and automation, other key segments that would be in focus would be information security, cyber security.

"The sectors where hiring will pick-up include Energy, Pharma, non-banking financial companies (NBFC), small and payment banks, infrastructure. Rewarding Top talent will also have a significant component of non cash element," Raina added.