Fast Changing Job Market- The Recession Surveys 2009

You have been worrying about handling a possible layoff and might be keeping an eye on the happenings in the job market. Not only you, market itself is vigilant on the issue. Many surveys have been conducted in the past few months to gauge the impact of recession on the Indian job market. Its amazing to know how fast the scenario of job opportunities are changing! See it for yourself.

February 2009- India, the safest employment destination

A survey by Hewitt, an HR consultancy firm, predicted in February that salaries would continue to rise at an average of 8.2% in 2009. It further said that India was one of the safest options for employments because only 16% of the Indian companies were considering layoffs as an option whereas 55% of the US companies and 30.6% of the Chinese companies were considering layoffs as the most viable option. The survey also projected that about 60% companies were still thinking of hiring new employees. 9 out of 10 companies were also giving promotions to the right candidates. It placed Healthcare sector among the top five sectors for 2009.

April 2009- Recruiters say no layoffs but freeze fresh hirings

Then came the survey report of Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) which said that most Indian companies were against layoffs but they had also stopped fresh hirings and staff incentives with a curb on outstation travel for executives. The information technology and outsourcing, which were the booming sectors of the past, had become more conservative with 84% recruiters stating that there will be no more hirings.

July 2009- Recruiters positive about adding new jobs

And now comes the latest report of the survey conducted by Naukri.com which has brought some relief by stating that 44% of recruiters predict addition of new jobs. Further, 37.5% of them have anticipated replacement hiring while 13.4% expect a freeze. However, a small 4.6% recruiters still anticipate layoffs in 2009. The hiring scenario of industries such as pharma & medical, construction & engineering and telecom is positive where over 50% of the recruiters are planning to create new jobs during 2009. About 15% recruiters from IT industry indicated that there is no possibility of recruitments during the year, while 4% went off to say that there would be layoffs. The worst case is that of ITeS where over 8% recruiters indicated layoffs during the year 2009.