'Volatility in job market continues; May activity sees 4% dip'

New Delhi: Job market activity registered a decline of 4 percent in May led by the IT-software industry that was hit the most and this trend is expected to continue for a few more months, says a report.

The Naukri Job Speak index for May this year stood at 1,904, down 4 percent from the corresponding period last year, indicating a fall in the overall new job creation scenario.

"The job market continues to be volatile and there is an air of caution and uncertainty across industries and cities. The Jobspeak index for May has shown negative growth of 4 per cent year-on-year. This trend may continue for few more months before the job market starts moving north again," Naukri.Com Chief Sales Officer V Suresh said.

Among key industries, telecom and BPO/ITES saw a 7 percent and 10 percent fall respectively, while banking saw an 8 per cent rise during May this year as compared to May 2016.

A functional area analysis showed that while IT- software jobs fell by 14 percent, BPO jobs saw a drop of 16 per cent for the same time-period. Meanwhile, banking/insurance and accounts/finance jobs saw a growth of 16 per cent and 2 percent respectively since May last year, the report said.

There was also a decline in hiring activity in major metros Delhi/NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai. Out of the 13 key cities tracked, 12 saw a decrease in hiring activity in May. Coimbatore was the only city that saw an increase of 17 per cent as compared to May 2016.

Moreover, hiring across all experience levels saw a fall in May. In 0-3 years' experience category hiring saw a 11 per cent fall in May since the previous month, while jobs for 13- 16 years of experience witnessed a fall of 6 per cent.

Hiring in mid-management (8-12 years of experience) and above 16 years of experience, both witnessed a decrease of 6 per cent during May, the report said.