Tech sector accounts for less than 50% of active openings in first time in 3 years

The tech sector’s contribution to active job openings in India dropped to less than 50% for the first time in 3 years in October 2022, even though the total job openings showed a slight increase as compared to the previous month. This comes a month after tech jobs registered a 36% year-on-year (YoY) drop in September 2022, according to data from staffing firm Xpheno, signifying an overall slowdown in hiring in the sector amid the global economic downturn.

Job portal Monster.com also saw similar trends, noting that IT hiring went down by 19% on its platform in October. In a report published on October 9, the firm noted that overall hiring activity in India was down by 6% YoY in October 2022.

According to Xpheno’s report, the IT sector was the primary hiring sector until last year, contributing to over 80% jobs in India. The sector, which includes roles in product, services and Internet enabled sectors, accounted for 106,000 jobs in October 2022, as against 121,000 in September 2022.

“This is the lowest active jobs volume from the IT sector in over 28 months,” said Anil Ethanur, co-founder of Xpheno.

While the IT services and software service sectors registered drops by 14% and 8% respectively, a drop of 15% was also recorded in jobs coming from internet-enabled services and the startup sector. In contrast, the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector registered 21,000 active openings as against 17,000 in September 2022.

The good news, however, is that active job figures began a recovery curve after sliding for over five months, rising 7% in October 2022 over September, the report said. Non-tech sectors accounted for most of this growth.

“Unlike previous drop and rise, the current drop and recovery will have a longer end-to-end duration of six to eight months overall. While a sharp V-shaped recovery is not on the cards, a wide and deep recovery curve is in the making for the first time since 2020,” he said. V-Shaped curves signify quick and sustained recoveries.

Notably, entry level openings in October 2022 grew by 22% in volume to close at 55,000, as against 45,000 in September 2022. While there have been no changes in senior-level hiring, mid-junior level openings shrunk by 64% from September 2022, the study noted.