Job hiring dropped by 62% in April; entry level seekers worst hit, reveals survey

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the nationwide lockdown, recruitment across the country dropped by 62 percent in April 2020, as compared to last year. The worst hit due to this crisis are restaurants, hotels, travel agencies, and airlines with a decline of over 91 per cent followed by automobiles, retail, accounting, and finance according to a latest survey by Naukri.com.

Naukri.com is a leading job portal which connects employers and job seekers.

According to the survey, even with a decline of 51 per cent in hiring, the IT industry was among the least affected industries followed by the BPO/ITES, biotech, pharma, healthcare, and education industry.

With the hiring freeze impacting across several sectors, the entry-level job seekers are the worst hit followed by senior-level executives with around 4-7 years of experience.

The senior and middle management roles have also seen a decline but the impact has been lesser as one moves upwards in the hierarchy. However, even at the leadership roles with over 16 years of experience, there has been a decline of 50 per cent in job hiring as compared to last year.

Recruitment across various cities in India saw a double-digit decline. Delhi was among the most affected cities with a reported decline of 70 per cent followed by Kolkata, Chennai, and Mumbai. Each of the cities have a different trend. The hospitality sector remains a common point of decline across many cities.

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In a statement, Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer, Naukri.com said that recruiters, through their portals in critical industries such as medical, healthcare, pharma and telecom, offer a free bouquet of hiring services. He added that the job portal is prioritising access and discovery of ‘recently laid off’ and ‘immediately available to join’ job seekers to the recruiters.