White collar hiring dips 16% in Dec

Mumbai: White collar hiring in India witnessed a 16 per cent decline in December compared to the year-ago period due to cautious hiring sentiments in IT, BPO, education, retail and healthcare sectors, a report said on Tuesday. “We observed marginal sequential growth of 2 per cent in December hiring activity compared to November, driven by non-IT sectors.

However, the IT sector continued to be significantly impacted pulling the overall index down by 16 per cent against last year signalling a longer wait for a complete recovery in IT hiring,” Naukri.com Chief Business Officer Pawan Goyal said analysing the Naukri JobSpeak Index.

According to the Naukri JobSpeak Index, sectors like BPO, education, retail, and healthcare displayed cautious hiring sentiments, witnessing a year-on-year decline of 17 per cent, 11 per cent, 11 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively, in job offers in December.

Hiring in the IT sector reflected the trend seen in the second half of 2023, the report noted. The sector witnessed a decline of 21 per cent in hiring during December 2023, against the same month last year and a fall of 4 per cent compared to the preceding month of November 2023.