Hiring remains weak in Dec: Monster

In line with the prevailing economic scenario, hiring activity in India continued to slow for the third consecutive month in December over the previous month and the recruitment outlook remains 'cautious' for this year, says job portal Monster.com.

The Monster Employment Index India for December -- a monthly gauge of online job demand based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities -- stood at 115, down nearly 2 per cent from the month ago period.

The index, however, on year-on-year basis witnessed a 3 per cent rise in December -- the slowest year-over-year growth recorded in 2011.

"Despite a slower pace of growth the Index remained positive from an annual perspective as recruitment activity continued across a broad range of sectors," Monster.com MD (India/ Middle East/ South East Asia) Sanjay Modi said.

Modi added that the "current outlook on hiring remains cautious as we approach 2012, which is in line

with the prevailing economic scenario."

Online opportunities expanded in 17 out of 27 industry sectors monitored by Monster Employment Index, with agro based industries witnessing the sharpest uptrend (21 per cent), followed by real estate (16 per cent), social services (15 per cent), FMCG (13 per cent) and import export (12 per cent).

Meanwhile, industries which witnessed the lowest growth included logistics, which witnessed a 18 per cent decline, followed by PSU segment (- 15 per cent), printing/packaging (-14 per cent), media and entertainment (- 13 per cent) and BPO/ITeS (- 7 per cent).

City-wise, online recruitment was up on the year for eight of the 13 locations monitored by the index.

Coimbatore led all cities in longer-term growth in recruitment activity (up 13 per cent), while Ahmedabad saw the steepest decline (down 10 per cent).

Bengaluru led all metro markets in annual growth (up 10 per cent), whereas, online demand in Mumbai slipped seven per cent from its December 2010 level, the report added.