Engineering, telecom and healthcare to add about 12 mn new jobs by FY26

Engineering, telecom, and healthcare sectors are expected to add about 12 million new jobs by FY26, according to a report by TeamLease Digital, the specialised staffing division of TeamLease Services. Specialised staff or professional staff with high-skill and expertise will form nearly 17 per cent of the overall jobs created, it added. 

The report titled ‘Professional Staffing – Digital Employment Trends’ said that the total employment generated by the three sectors together will rise from the current 4.56 million to 9.03 million in the next five years.  

Telecom, Engineering, and Healthcare comprise a nearly $1.5 trillion aggregate-sector in market size, by conservative estimates. Together, they employ about 42 million people – approximately 8.7 per cent of India’s entire workforce. 

During FY'22, the Engineering sector oversaw the highest growth in hiring of specialised roles, in comparison to Telecom and Healthcare. The sector hired for a judicious mix of core domain skills and technological skills. Public investments, such as the defence sub-sector and construction witnessed growth, translating into robust hiring during the FY. 

According to the report, the focus on recovery coupled with technology proliferation and digitisation in these sectors will lead to an increase in demand for talent with high skill and expertise. The demand for specialised roles will double by 2026.  

“The engineering, telecom and healthcare sectors are on the verge of an Industry 4.0 transformation. There is a shift from a central industrial control system to one where products and processes at the heart of their operations smart. This transition coupled with the PLI scheme and FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) is driving an exponential demand, more so for talent with niche skills across these sectors,” said Sunil Chemmankotil, Head - Specialised Staffing, TeamLease Digital.  

According to him, "Data, video, and wireless network services became more critical than ever for the Telecom sector during FY2021-22. The ubiquitous need for remote work infrastructure and its reliable functioning was a big boost to the demand for network operation skills. Likewise, the Network Engineer role turned out to be the most sought-after role, with the hiring volume nearly doubling during the FY." 

Healthcare is expected to rise up to 25 per cent of growth in contract staffing hiring by 2026 as all top specialised roles in healthcare witnessed superlative growth rates during the FY. The acute need for data-driven support and for analysing and acting on massive volumes of patient data created high demand for the Nurse Informatics Specialist and the Clinical Research Scientist roles. 

Also, the deployment of 5G by the Indian semiconductor market will boost growth opportunities for the wireless industry and will accelerate post-Covid economic recovery, said the report.  

“We see a huge increase in the target addressable market in Professional Staffing segment, backed by overall growth in every segment, fusion of technologies like 5G, IT & Engineering, favourable government policies and high economic growth in next five years. To sum it up, we believe that there is a huge opportunity for the job seekers in these sectors, not only for specific industry focused employment but also for industry agnostic employment with a bent of digital skills,” he said. 

“It is not only the demand for talent, the road to recovery and growth has led to a shift in the employment model as well. The share of contract staff has grown from 10-11 per cent of the overall employment to 16 per cent. It is expected to be around 24 percent of the overall employment by 2026. Further, employers and candidates are not hesitating to explore newer models like gig. The percentage of gig model will grow by 17 percent by 2023,” added Munira Loliwala, AVP - Engineering Staffing & RPO Solutions, TeamLease Digital. 

Chennai and Bengaluru will be among the top hiring destinations between 2022 and 2026, the report said. Engineering (includes automobiles, aerospace, power, construction, chemical, agri, manufacturing, electrical and electronics hiring), which employs 30 million people currently, will see the job count go up to 38 million by 2026. Telecom jobs will go increase to 6 million from 4 million, while healthcare will go up to 9.5 million from 7.5 million.

While in the semiconductor industry, which is contributing to engineering, telecom, healthcare equipment healthcare, auto and electronics segments, will see exponential growth in the south with Chennai and Bengaluru leading the fray followed by Aurangabad and Pune and Gurugram and Noida. In telecom, on the other hand, it is Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata that dominate the charts followed by Bengaluru and Chennai as the top hiring hotspots. Similarly in healthcare, it is Bengaluru that's on top followed by Mumbai, Delhi and Pune.

Overall, in engineering, with 17 per cent growth in hiring demand, Chennai and Bengaluru top the pecking order among metros followed by Hyderabad (14 per cent) and Kolkata (12 per cent). Among non-metros, Chandigarh (9 per cent) Ahmedabad (5 per cent) and Pune (5 per cent) will lead the growth, said the report.