Hiring drive continues; job index rises 5.6% in May: Monster

Monster's Employment Index, a monthly gauge of the country's online job demand, lifted seven points to 132 in May from 125 in April.

"The continued growth in Monster Employment Index India for the sixth consecutive month is indeed very encouraging. The positive momentum in the index is consistent with other economic indicators," Monster Worldwide Managing Director (India, Middle East and South-East Asia) Sanjay Modi said.

During May, online job availability rose in 18 of the Index's 27 industry sectors and in 10 of the 14 occupational categories monitored. The real estate sector saw the fastest growth in demand for workers with the sectoral index rising by 34 points in May.

It is closely followed by the engineering, cement, construction, iron/ steel sector, which saw a 28-point jump, and these two industries also registered strong medium-term (3-month) growth trends, rising 52 per cent each.

Moreover, opportunities in the IT sector continued to expand in May gaining 22 points (17 per cent), however, the monthly rate of growth slowed relative to April.

Telecom sector rebounded in May after witnessing a slump in March and April. While job opportunities in the banking, finance and insurance industries registered a modest two per cent growth.

Meanwhile, after bullish hiring in April, the online demand for jobs in the health care and bio-technology sector was somewhat held back, the report revealed. Online opportunities in advertising, market research and public relations (PR) declined for the second consecutive month.

The month saw a sharp increase in demand for technically qualified professionals in manufacturing and production category, which also registered the strongest three-month growth trend, Monster report said. In terms of cities, Mumbai, with a five per cent growth in online demand for jobs saw largest improvement in May followed by Bangalore and Delhi-NCR.

Kochi and Coimbatore continued to record the greatest monthly rises in online opportunities in May. Meanwhile, hiring in Chandigarh and Kolkata fell a bit even as they exhibited relatively strong medium-term growth.

The index is based on a comprehensive real-time review of data available on various online job sites, including Monsterindia.com.