Employment sentiment showing signs of gradual improvement: Report

Easing of lockdown restrictions seems to have a positive impact on the job landscape across sectors and geographies as employment sentiment has picked by 7 percent from the 86 percent drop it witnessed during the lockdown, says a report.

According to the latest TeamLease Employment Outlook Report for the first half of this fiscal, the hiring sentiment which had taken a beating in the October to March period is showing signs of gradual improvement since unlock 1.0.

Until unlock 1.0, the hiring sentiment for the current half-year (April-September) was as low as 11 percent, however, it has improved to 18 percent.

According to the report, out of the 21 sectors analysed barring for travel and hospitality all the other sectors, though in varying degrees, are positive about hiring.

Some of the sectors that are leading in hiring intent are Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals (21 percent increase since unlock 1.0), KPO (20 percent increase), E-commerce & Tech Start-ups (19 percent), Educational Services (17 percent), Telecommunications (15 percent).

Other bullish sectors include Information Technology (15 percent increase since unlock 1.0), Retail (Essential) (14 percent increase), Agriculture & Agrochemicals (13 percent), FMCG (12 percent) and Power & Energy (10 percent).

“The pandemic has actually made corporates to re-look, re-structure and re-align their businesses and it is taking a hit on the hiring sentiments. Today, organisations are increasingly becoming conscious of the fixed costs and that is one of the major reasons for the slow uptick in the employment sentiment by the mid and small businesses," TeamLease Services Co-Founder and Executive Vice President Rituparna Chakraborty said.

Chakraborty further added that though it may take a quarter or more, these businesses will also definitely pick up bringing about a marginal improvement in the overall employment scenario.

The biggest gainer is the blue-collar profile. The hiring sentiment for blue-collar profiles has witnessed a 10 percent growth post-re-opening of businesses. Further, the demand for senior-level is also witnessing a growth in sentiment.

TeamLease Employment Outlook is a bi-annual report, that analyses functional and environmental aspects across 21 sectors and 14 geographies to provide an insight into the hiring sentiments. It has surveyed 807 enterprises of various sizes (small, medium and large) in India and 82 employers across the globe to evaluate employment outlook trends.