Monster.com sees 5% hike in online hiring activity in Dec 2013

New Delhi: Online hiring activity in India registered a 5.46 percent rise during December 2013 from a month ago period, signalling that employers are optimistic yet cautious while hiring, says a survey. The Monster.com’s employment index, a monthly gauge of the country’s online job demand rose by 7 points (5.46 percent) to 135 in December, from 128 in November. On a year-on-year basis however, the index has seen a slight decline of 1 percent from an index point of 136 in December 2012 to 135 in December 2013. [caption id=“attachment_1331743” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Monster.com website. Getty Images[/caption] “Monster Employment Index India continues to chart sluggish growth with recruitment activity marginally lower than the year-ago level,” Monster.com (India/ Middle- East/South East Asia) Managing Director Sanjay Modi said. While there is a long way to go before it catches up the pre-recession level, the situation appears to be gradually improving as the Index exhibits positive growth on the month, he added. Since September 2013, the index is showing an improvement on a month-on-month basis. Modi added that recent reports show confidence among businesses regarding the coming quarter but they are likely to adopt a cautious approach while hiring. On year-on-year basis, online recruitment activity exceeded the year-ago level in 13 of the 27 industry sectors monitored by the Index. IT - hardware, software sector exhibited the highest annual growth among sectors (up 22 percent), while NGO/social services showed steepest annual decline (down 17 percent). Meanwhile, online demand improved in six of the 13 occupation groups monitored by the index between December 2012 and December 2013. Software, hardware, telecom professionals saw the most notable growth in demand (up 22 percent) among all occupations groups between December'12 and December'13. A city-wise analysis showed that online opportunities exceeded the year-ago level in nine of the 13 cities monitored by the Index. Ahmedabad was the only city to register a double-digit year-on-year growth rate (up 13 percent), while Baroda (down 30 percent) registered the most significant year-on-year decline followed by Jaipur (down 12 percent). PTI