Hiring momentum stabilising with overall job openings, November data shows

Hiring momentum seems to be stabilising with the overall job openings in November remaining largely the same as in October at 1,00,000 openings. However, the contribution of full-time opportunities dropped to 90% from 95% in October 2020, as contract hiring picked up during the month.

The count of jobs that were active, refreshed and accepting applicants in November 2020 marginally dropped to 2,70,000 mark, as against 2,75,000 in October, data compiled by Bengaluru-based specialist staffing firm Xpheno, shows.

“The 2,70,000 numbers registered in November sustains the V-shaped recovery witnessed in the job market. June 2020 can now well be declared the lowest point of dip in the V-shaped drop and recovery,” Kamal Karanth, co-founder, Xpheno observed. There were 1,67,000 openings recorded in June 2020.

Despite the overall stable counts, a redistribution of jobs across different job types was witnessed in November. Full-time opportunities in November 2020 dropped to 2,42,000 from the October figures of 2,60,000. The size of the full-time opportunities has marginally shrunk, after registering a gradual increase over the last four months.

“The percentage points shed by the full-time opportunities slice, has been distributed among the contract jobs. The gradual growth in number of contract and part-time openings, is an indication of seasonal workforce augmentation for managing business spikes,” Karanth said. Contractual hiring generally increases between July and September ahead of the festive season, lasts till December and starts to taper down post that.

With work-from-home being the new normal, increase in full-time remote roles was also witnessed during the month. Full-time remote job openings rose to 5,000 in November, as against 3,000 in October and 2,000 in September 2020.

The recovery in hiring activity is becoming broad-based with the job market in the non-tech sectors also looking up, LinkedIn said in a recent survey.

Nicolas Dumolin, MD, Michael Page India had recently told FE employment levels have moved back all the way to 75% of pre-Covid levels as companies are re-aligning themselves with the new normal and there has been a need for new talent. Also, companies have understood the current conditions will continue for some time. “There’s less uncertainty and that has led to more hiring,” Dumoulin explained.

Entry-level openings shrunk by 2% in November to reach the 98,000 mark as against 1,05,000 in October 2020. Over 36% of active openings are for the entry-level opportunities followed by mid-junior and mid-senior categories at 30% and 11%, respectively.

After nearly doubling in October, senior level openings remained at same levels in November 2020. “As hiring and onboarding activity at the top has been registering notable movements, the top up of new jobs in this level is seen to be healthy compared to previous months,” Karanth said.