India's hiring outlook ranked 2nd: Report

India has the best hiring outlook globally, second only to Brazil, with 54 per cent of companies surveyed planning to hire in the December quarter as against 51 per cent in the September quarter, according to a report by global staffing firm ManpowerGroup.

The report titled “ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey” showed that India has the strongest net employment outlook for the December quarter in the Asia-Pacific region, followed by China (46 per cent), and Australia (38 per cent).

The global net employment outlook in the December quarter would stand at 30 per cent, down by three percentage points from the June-September quarter, yet six percentage points higher than the same period last year, the staffing firm said.

The report calculates the net employment outlook by subtracting the percentage of employers, who anticipate reductions to staffing levels, from those who plan to hire.

“India’s deep-rooted fundamentals are healthy and robust.

"Despite the short-term setbacks, growth enhancing policies, increased investment in infrastructure, rising exports etc. will nullify the impact in the middle and long term,” said Sandeep Gulati, managing director, ManpowerGroup India.

The report is based on interviews with more than 40,600 public and private employers across 41 countries and territories to measure anticipated employment trends each quarter.

According to the report, in India, 64 per cent expect to increase their staffing levels, 10 per cent anticipate a decrease in hiring intent, and 24 per cent do not anticipate any change, resulting in a seasonally adjusted net employment outlook of 54 per cent.

The report notes that globally, organisations in the IT industry report the most optimistic outlook (42 per cent), followed closely by banking (37 per cent), restaurants and hotels (33 per cent), real estate (30 per cent), and manufacturing (30 per cent).

Despite such positive trends, challenges persist and the shortage of skills is at record highs in many markets with unemployment levels remaining high while workforce participation stagnates.

“Organisations continue to focus on attracting and retaining people, as competition for employees remains fierce even two years after the pandemic began,” said ManpowerGroup chairman and CEO Jonas Prising.

The report comes in the wake of the recent Periodic Labour Force Survey data for the June 2022 quarter, which showed that the unemployment rate in urban areas in India was estimated at 7.6 per cent — the lowest in the last four years.

However, the August bulletin by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy estimated the unemployment rate at 8.3 per cent, as India’s labour force grew by four million in August to reach 430 million.

With additional inputs from PTI