Want a job? There's plenty in India

The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey released on Tuesday reports positive employment prospects for the fourth quarter (Oct–Dec) of 2005. Hiring expectations of Indian employers remain the strongest of the 23 countries and territories surveyed.

Expected total employment change

The survey reveals a very buoyant hiring sentiment in India with an overall Net Employment Outlook of +40 per cent, an increase of 6 percentage points from +34 per cent in Q3 (July-September). Net Employment Outlook is derived by taking the percentage of employers anticipating total employment to increase, and subtracting from this, the percentage expecting to see a decrease in employment at their location in the next quarter.

Of the 3835 Indian employers interviewed, 43 per cent said they expect to hire more people during Q4 of 2005, three per cent of the employers expect to reduce their workforce while 48 per cent will maintain their present levels of employment.

The survey covers employers in seven industry sectors, namely, finance/insurance/real estate; manufacturing; mining and construction; public administration and education services; transportation and utilities; and wholesale and retail trade.

Key sector hiring intentions in Q4

Robust hiring activity is expected across all industry sectors, with the greatest hiring expectations reported by services employers (+45 per cent), the most optimistic for the second consecutive quarter, followed by employers in finance/insurance/real estate (+43 per cent); public administration and education (+43 per cent); mining and construction (+39 per cent); and, manufacturing (+38 per cent).

Those in the wholesale and retail trade sector are steadier in their expectations with a Net Employment Outlook of +33 per cent. Transportation and utilities - relatively the least optimistic - has a healthy outlook of +32 per cent.

Quarterly growth trends

Services, while maintaining its position as the most buoyant sector in India, has shown only a marginal quarter-over-quarter Net Employment Outlook increase of 1 percentage point, from +44 per cent to +45 per cent. Employer expectations in finance/insurance/real estate have grown by a modest two percentage points over the third quarter, while quarter- over-quarter improvements in manufacturing and in public administration and education were healthier (up four and nine percentage points, respectively).

Interestingly, employers in the transportation and utilities as well as wholesale and retail trade sectors show the greatest quarter-over- quarter increase in their Net Employment Outlook, by 15 and 12 percentage points, respectively. The only sector to show a slight dip in Net Employment

Outlook is the mining and construction sector, which declined by 1 percentage point from 40 per cent in Q3.

"Employment prospects in the next quarter are extremely bright across all the seven industry sectors surveyed," said Soumen Basu, executive chairman of Manpower India.

"However, the high growth across sectors is widening the gap between demand and supply of skilled and mature talent. Manpower, by virtue of expertise developed in labour markets across the world, understands that a country on a high growth trajectory like India can derive sustainable competitive advantage by constantly upgrading the skills of its finite workforce, and in the process effectively enhancing the available pool of high calibre and experienced workers.

"This is why, at the heart of all of Manpower's workforce management solutions, lies training. The surge in Net Employment Outlook for the education sector seems to be the market's response to the prevailing skills shortage."

Global results

The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey also found that the majority of employers in 20 of 23 countries and territories surveyed expect to add staff during the fourth quarter of 2005; however, the outlook is decidedly less optimistic across the globe than it was three months ago. German employers reversed their positive third quarter hiring expectations with a negative outlook for the final quarter. Employers in the US, Canada and New Zealand expect strong, stable hiring activity to continue for the remainder of the year.

In the Asia Pacific region, only employers in India and Singapore reported an improved outlook from Q3. The Japanese employment outlook remains consistent from third to fourth quarter, which is an improvement over Q4 expectations a year ago.

The least optimistic hiring outlook in the region was reported in China, down slightly from third quarter.

In Europe, employers in seven of 12 countries expect the seasonal slowdown in hiring that typically occurs on the continent in the fourth quarter. Employment prospects are strongest in Ireland, Norway and Spain, while Italian employers reported a negative outlook along with their German counterparts.

Compared to one year ago, the employment picture is consistent in most countries; however, based on seasonally adjusted data, hiring expectations are notably weaker in the UK.

The quarterly report from Manpower Inc is the most extensive, forward-looking employment survey in the world, gathering data from more than 45,000 employers across the globe each quarter. India joined the program in Q3 of 2005.