Hiring Rate at 65% Above Pre-CovLevel: LinkedIn India

According to a study, employment activity in India has been steadily improving, with the hiring rate in July this year being approximately 65% higher than pre-Covid levels.

According to the LinkedIn India – Labour Market Update (July 2021), the second wave of Covid-19 cases in India resulted in a deeper hiring drop in April 2021. It has been slowly improving since then.

It claimed the hiring rate was 35% higher at the end of May 2021, 42% higher at the end of June 2021, and now 65% higher higher at the end end of July 2021, compared to pre-Covid levels in 2019.

The hiring rate is calculated by dividing the number of hires by the number of LinkedIn members. This study compares the hiring rate in the month under consideration to the same month in 2019.

“We are hopeful that hiring will continue to rise as big industries such as IT, manufacturing, and hardware begin to ramp up recruiting after a year of hiring restrictions,” the study stated.

According to the report, hiring has been steadily improving, owing primarily to people changing occupations rather than fresh entries into the workforce.

“Our data suggests that people moving employment and ‘reshuffling’ around, rather than fresh entrants into the workforce, are driving much of the current labour market activity,” it stated.

As the economy continues to reopen and recover, focus is moving to new and emerging job possibilities, as well as their position in the labour market.

The bulk of transitions into emerging occupations come from non-emerging positions, according to the study, with 54% and 57% of shifts into Data and Cloud professions coming from non-emerging roles, respectively.

When COVID hit the country, a huge drop in people changing employment occurred, with the share of members changing positions falling almost 48% in April 2020 compared to the same period a year before, showing that many were “sheltering in job” during the pandemic.

Since then, it has improved, with 61% more job transitions in March 2021 compared to the same month in 2019. According to the research, the proportion of India members switching employment has stabilised over the last four months, and as of July 2021, it is approximately 59% more than it was in the pre-Covid period.

Source: IBEF