Online hiring activity up 60% in Oct: Monster Index

New Delhi: Online recruitment activity saw 60 percent jump in October driven by the manufacturing sector but this bullishness may be for a short term unless the government increases the pace of project approvals, says a survey.

The Monster.Com's employment index, a monthly gauge of the country's online job demand rose by 86 points or up 60 percent to 230 in October this year, from 144 in the same period last year.

The findings of the survey blends well with the overall focus by the government in enabling an ecosystem of creating more and more jobs, Monster.Com Managing Director (India, Middle East, South East Asia and Hong Kong) Sanjay Modi said.

"The above may certainly be music to one's ears from a growth standpoint; this sentiment and growth may just be short term unless the government channelizes efforts towards increasing the pace of approvals for implementing key projects. The mood is upbeat but there is cautious optimism," Modi added.

On a month-on-month basis as well, the index witnessed an uptrend in online hiring activity as the month of October saw an increase of 7 points from 223 points in September.

"The long-term growth momentum between September and October improved by 11 percentage points. This may be attributed to the proposed transformation in reforms such as ease of doing business, and therefore encouraging more FDI," he added.

Of the 27 industry sectors monitored by the Index, online recruitment activity exceeded the year-ago level in 25 industry groups, with online recruitment activity in production and manufacturing registering a more than double growth in the past one year.

"It has more than doubled in the past one year with a 112 percent growth in opportunities year-on-year, making it the steepest among industries. This growth therefore complements the focus towards building the manufacturing space in the country," he said.

The report noted that online demand has increased for all 13 occupation groups monitored by the Index with health care professionals registering the most significant growth in demand among occupation groups.

Online demand exceeded the year-ago level in all 13 cities monitored by the Index and Baroda followed by Ahmedabad, Pune and Mumbai are top employment generating cities.