White-collar hiring grew 2% year-on-year in September, according to a Naukri.com report. Employers now prefer experienced professionals and candidates with specialised AI skills. “September's numbers reflect a hiring market that remains steady, but more selective,” said Hitesh Oberoi. AI and machine learning roles led this growth, rising 20% during September.
The white-collar hiring market has become increasingly selective, with employers showing stronger demand for experienced professionals and candidates possessing specialised AI-related skills, news agency PTI reported, citing a report released by Naukri.com on Friday.
This comes as overall white-collar hiring grew marginally by 2% year-on-year in September, mainly driven by record growth in artificial intelligence and machine learning roles, followed by the auto sector. The Naukri JobSpeak Index rose to 3,053 in September, compared with 3002 in the year-ago month.
Info Edge's flagship brand, Naukri.com, compiles such reports by tracking trends in India's job market and hiring activity based on new job postings, including free job listings and recruiter searches on the online portal.
“September's numbers reflect a hiring market that remains steady, but more selective. While overall hiring was broadly stable, demand continued to move towards specialised skills, particularly AI, and more experienced professionals,” Info Edge (India) Ltd. MD and CEO Hitesh Oberoi said.
AI/ML roles lead hiring growth in Sept
The report revealed that AI and ML roles led hiring growth in September, rising 20% year-on-year, while hiring in the Auto sector grew 11%.
Business process outsourcing (BPO), information technology-enabled services (ITES) and global capability center (GCC) hiring grew 4% each during the month, the report added.
Hiring also remained stable across other key sectors, such as insurance, retail, banking and financial services, and real estate. However, hiring declined in information technology & software services, pharma and biotech and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) by 4% each, while healthcare hiring fell 3%.
The sharper declines were recorded in education, where hiring fell 18%, followed by hospitality and travel, which declined 11%, the report said.
Fresher hiring sees marginal growth in Sept
Meanwhile, hiring remained largely stable at the entry and early-mid career levels, with fresher hiring witnessing an increase of just 1% year-on-year and the 4-7 years experience band declining by 2%.
Though AI is generating more jobs than it is eliminating in India, the technology's benefits are not being evenly distributed. The biggest impact is being felt at the entry level, where companies are cutting back on fresher recruitment, a Nomura report said earlier. The analysis found that companies had announced around 131,000 AI-related jobs, compared with about 61,000 job losses linked to AI.
Demand remained stronger for experienced professionals. Hiring rose 5% among those with 8-12 years of experience, 7% for the 13-16 years experience band and 5% for professionals with over 16 years of experience. The same trend was also highlighted in the Nomura report, which was released in August.
City-wise hiring trends
Among metros, Hyderabad recorded 9% year-on-year growth, followed by Chennai at 6%, and Bengaluru and Kolkata at 4% each.
While Pune remained stable, Delhi-NCR and Mumbai declined 6% each. At the same time, hiring growth across emerging cities remained largely flat last month.
“The variation across sectors and cities also highlights that hiring is increasingly being driven by specific business and capability needs,” Oberoi said.