Hiring in India Picks Up 35 percent from April to June: LinkedIn

LinkedIn, the world’s largest online professional network, today announced findings of the ‘Labour Market Update’, a monthly update on hiring trends and insights based on LinkedIn's Economic Graph, a digital representation of the Indian economy.

While the world continues to navigate different stages of the coronavirus, LinkedIn’s Economic Graph team has been closely monitoring the pandemic's disruptive impact across the global labour market. These findings are crystallized into the LinkedIn ‘Labour Market Update’, which highlights the hiring rate in India, overall hiring sentiment across industries, competition for securing jobs, and the top jobs and skills in demand. Findings show that there has been a significant hiring rebound as the country started 'unlocking' and more people returned to work. However, the pace of these gains are expected to slow down given the continued economic uncertainty.

1.    Between early-April to end-June, hiring increased by 35 percentage points: In India, hiring declines reached a low of below -50% year-on-year in April, before starting to slowly recover.  The hiring sentiment stands at -15% year-on-year as of the end of June. As risks of second-wave of infections emerge, some states have imposed lockdown measures again. Given this uncertainty, the recovery is expected to remain fairly flat in the coming weeks. 

*The analysis looks at the year-on-year changes in hiring rate, which is a measure of hires divided by LinkedIn membership. The analysis was conducted for the period of 11th Feb to 30th June 2020. 

Data also suggests that the gap between hires for males and females has narrowed from about 40 percentage points in February to around 30 percentage points in June.

This trend is observed across all sectors except for Manufacturing, Finance and Software & IT.

2.  Competition for jobs is heating up: Competition for jobs has doubled compared to 6 months ago, with the average number of applications per job posted on LinkedIn increasing from around 90 in Jan 2020, to 180 in June 2020.

3.  Recreation & Travel and Retail professionals are more likely to look for jobs in a different sector, compared to pre-COVID period: Compared to the pre-COVID period, data suggests that job seekers who are currently in the affected sectors (such as Recreation & Travel) are 6.8 times* more likely to look for jobs in a different sector, compared to pre-COVID times. Data further suggests that those in the retail sector are 2.4 times* likely to apply for a job in a different sector. The analysis looks at how job seekers in different industries are adapting to changes and adjusting their jobs search strategy. 

*The measure here calculates the likelihood that a member in a certain sector has applied for a job in a sector different to their own in June 2020 (post-COVID) compared to June 2019 (pre-COVID). A score of 2 here would suggest that a member in Industry A is twice as likely to apply to a job in an industry outside of Industry A. 

4.  The demand for disruptive skills tops the charts in June 2020: The Labour Market Update also highlights roles that are in demand today and are expected to remain relevant in the near future. These roles have the greatest number of job openings on LinkedIn, have seen steady growth over the past four years, pay a liveable wage, and require skills that can be learned online.

These are the top 5 in-demand jobs and skills:

1.    Jobs: 

·         Software Engineer

·         Business Development Manager 

·         Sales Manager 

·         Business Analyst

·         Content Writer

2.     Skills:

·         JavaScript

·         SQL 

·         Sales Management 

·         Team Leadership 

·         Recruiting

ABB Unveils eMart, its B2B & B2C Online Marketplace in India

 ABB India, today announced the launch of eMart, an online marketplace portal, which will offer more than 6,000 products from its Electrification Business for home and industrial buyers.

This unique B2B & B2C platform will be the first of its kind in the industry, owing to its dynamic, price-transparent model. It aims to provide an equally fair and favorable experience to both ABB distributors and customers, further boosting the agenda of the country’s Digital India program.

ABB eMart also provides a dynamic model to empower partners to set their own competitive pricing for the products they sell on the platform, while simultaneously providing customers with a choice of the best deals to suit their specific needs.

Customers will be able to access technical specifications as well as interactive product images for each item at their fingertips. They can select their best-suited option by referring to the product and seller reviews on the portal. ABB has partnered with authorized distributors with a digital presence from across the country, and is enabling them to expand their reach by offering products and solutions on eMart for home as well as industrial customers.

eMart hosts a wide range of products, which ranges from digital circut breakers, contactors, Molded Case Circuit Breaker (MCCB), modular swtiches, Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB), Residual Current Circuit Breaker (RCCB), home automation, medium voltage relays and related products. With this move, ABB India aims to further expand its reach in untapped markets while strengthing its presence in the existing sector, maximizing the changing customer buying preferences with a seamless digital experience.

“At ABB, we are committed to creating avenues that fast track the digital transformation journey for our customers and partners. The eMart is another achievement in the same direction, aiming to to create a reliable yet distinct customer experience with digital solutions. It aims to build a digital ecosystem and infrastructure between the manufacturer, the partners, and the customers and provide impetus to the business climate and the Digital India program,“ said CP Vyas, President, Electrification business, ABB India. “This platform will be another stream for business enhancement for our partner and distributors and provide the next level of customer experience,“ he added.

As the world adapts to the new normal, ABB recognizes that online buying experiences and a one-stop access to immediate product requirements are increasingly the need of the hour. Designed for a user-friendly experience, eMart has been optimized with easy navigation for desktop and mobile browsers, and curated results for each type of buyer. The platform allows for order queries to be addressed online and is supported by secure payment methods including net banking, eWallets, and UPI, also abiding by General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in terms of customer data.

ABB (ABBN: SIX Swiss Ex) is a leading global technology company that energizes the transformation of society and industry to achieve a more productive, sustainable future. By connecting software to its electrification, robotics, automation and motion portfolio, ABB pushes the boundaries of technology to drive performance to new levels. With a history of excellence stretching back more than 130 years, ABB’s success is driven by about 110,000 talented employees in over 100 countries. www.abb.com

Mumbai attacks will not slow investment, says Kamal Nath

Trade Minister Kamal Nath said on Thursday the attacks on high profile targets in the country's commercial capital would not slow investment into an ecomomy already under strain.

At least 101 people were killed by gunmen in the attacks on some of Mumbai's top hotels, a popular cafe, a busy railway station and other locations. Hostages were taken in two of the hotels.

"This does not have an economic component. It's an unfortunate event. These type of things have happened in New York and other major cities," Nath told Reuters by telephone.
"(There will be) no slowdown in investment flows."

The global downturn has already rattled Indian financial markets and a credit squeeze has prompted the government and central bank to take a series of measures to lift sagging growth.
The Reserve Bank expects the economy to expand by 7.5-8 percent in the 2008-09 fiscal year, slowing from 9 percent posted in the last three years.

India's capital market regulator said the country's two major stock exchanges would remain closed on Thursday.

Source: Reuters