India to step up hiring from 2010: Manpower

PTI 8 December 2009, 03:15pm IST


NEW DELHI: India has once again emerged as the most optimistic nation in terms of hiring plans for the next three months and the recruitment pace is expected to return to the pre-recession level in the new year, global staffing services firm Manpower says. 

"There is no more 'cautious optimism' among employers anymore, it has given way to 'definite optimism'. Besides, the pace of hiring will be back to the 2007 level in the next year," Manpower India Managing Director Naresh Malhan said.

According to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, India has a net employment outlook -- a measure of recruiting plans -- of 39 per cent for the first quarter of 2010, the highest among 35 countries surveyed. India has been reporting the strongest hiring plans globally since the third quarter of 2008.

India's outlook has improved by 11 percentage points on a quarter-on-quarter basis and by 18 per cent year-on-year.

A sectoral analysis shows that hiring outlook has risen across all sectors. Job seekers in the services, public administration, education, mining and construction, finance, insurance, real estate, and the wholesale and retail trade sector, could look forward to the most favourable hiring environment in early 2010, the survey said.

"The good news is that employer hiring expectations across all industry sectors are improving in the first quarter of 2010, and job seekers in key industry sectors can look forward to the most favourable hiring environment in over a year," Malhan said.  Source: The Times of India; 8 December 2009