Spike in demand for blue-grey collar jobs post-COVID, says study

A whopping 73% sequential jump was seen in demand for blue and grey collar jobs in the first quarter of 2022 (January to March) over the same period last year against the backdrop of an economy rising from the shadows of COVID.

Qjobs, a blue and grey collar jobs platform, released a statement which concluded that opening up of the economy post-COVID has resulted in increased consumer buying and demand for manpower across businesses. Qjobs attributed the higher hiring in the blue and grey collar segment to advancements in technology which has opened a pool of talent across segments.

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Most jobs in the blue & grey collar segment are available in retail/counter sales, BPO/customer care, delivery and back office.

The report stated: “These categories together make up over 80 per cent of all available vacancies. In the fourth quarter, retail and BFSI sectors have seen a sharp rebound in business across the country. Likewise, most Tier-II and III cities have seen a continuous recovery in hiring across sectors.”

As per the study, 29% of jobs in this category registered on Qjobs, came from Delhi (15%) and Bengaluru (14%), closely followed by Mumbai (13%), Hyderabad (8%), and Pune (7%).

Sekhar Garisa, President – Emerging Businesses & Chief Strategy Officer, Quess Corp, said they had seen a remarkable rise in the number of job seekers as well as job openings in this particular category. “Our milestone of 5 million job seekers enables us to serve our target clients with a larger pool of qualified and verified job seekers. It is also encouraging to see demand up in metro cities indicating that the shadow of a pandemic is behind us,” said Garisa.

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About 45% of manpower in the blue and grey collar category had experience of 1-5 years while 43% were freshers. “When it comes to gender representation, male job seekers (81%) form an overwhelming majority, whereas female job seekers make up 19% of all seekers on the platform. On the education front, 57% of all job seekers are graduates and above. This indicates a better quality of blue and grey collar talent in India which would help leading companies expand their footprints across the country,” the company added.