Online hiring dips 9% in Sept over last year: Monster

Online hiring activity registered 9 percent decline in September, over the year-ago period, reflecting the uncertain economic and political scenario, according to job portal Monster.com.

On a month-to-month basis as well the index witnessed the third consecutive month of decline. "The annual decline in the Monster Employment Index is reflective of the current uncertain economic/political scenario," Monster.com (India/Middle-East/South East Asia) Managing Director Sanjay Modi said.

Employers continue to adopt a cautious approach while hiring in view of this prevailing scenario, he said. A sectoral analysis shows that four of the 27 industry sectors monitored by the Monster Employment Index registered expansion in online recruitment activity between September 2012 and September 2013.

The import/export sector witnessed the maximum increase in hiring activity (up 12 percent) followed by education (up five percent), while, printing/packaging (down 39 percent) showed steepest annual decline. Online demand improved in three of 13 occupational groups monitored by the Monster Employment Index between September 2012 and September this year.

Amongst the occupational groups, healthcare professionals are the only one to report a positive annual demand (up seven percent), while, senior management exhibited the steepest annual decline among occupation groups (down 49 percent).

Online recruitment activity was up on the year in three of 13 locations monitored by the index. Ahmedabad (up 17 percent) followed by Kolkata (up six percent) led all cities in annual growth. Among major metro-areas, Kolkata (up six percent) followed by Delhi-NCR (up four percent) registered the highest annual growth, the report said.