Hiring activity or job posting – that affects the employment rate across various sectors, decreased by two per cent in March 2021, compared to February this year, even as the fourth and last quarter of the financial year 2020-21 witnessed an increase of four per cent in job activity. According to a recent report titled ‘Monster Employment Index – March 2021’ by leading job portal moster.com. The Monster Employment Index or MEI decreased to 266 last month, compared to 296 in the corresponding month last year.

According to the findings of the report, the demand for online hiring in March 2021, exceeded the levels witnessed in March 2020, in four out of the 27 industries monitored by the employment index. Based on a year-on-year basis, the agro-based industries witnessed growth in e-recruitment by 12 per cent, courier/freight/transportation grew nine per cent, IT hardware and software at five per cent, and teelcom/ISP at eight per cent.

The industries that witnessed a decline in annual growth included travel and tourism by 59 per cent, education by 37 per cent, and oil/gas/petroleum by 33 per cent.  The report added that the annual online demand for the professionals registered growth in two out of the 13 functional areas monitored by the index.

The online demand for professionals in job-roles including software, hardware, telecom, and arts or creative witnessed an increase in online hiring activity between the period of March 2020 and 2021. In telecom sector, the demand grew by 12 per cent, while in arts/creative fields, the demand increased by three per cent throughout the year.

Moreover, the demand for online hiring monitored by the employment index showed an upward trend in three out of the 13 cities, compared to the year-ago period. Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune showed an uptrend in e-recruitment activity. Monitored by the employment index between March 2020 and 2021, Bengaluru showed an uptrend of 14 per cent, Hyderabad of six per cent, and Pune of two per cent.