As the booster for the vaccinations against Covid-19 commences and people learn to live with the virus, the hiring graph is witnessing uptick. According to  the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey,  in the third quarter of 2022, 63% expect to increase their staffing levels, 12% anticipate a decrease in hiring intent and 24% do not anticipate any change, resulting in a seasonally adjusted Net Employment Outlook of +51% which is a record high in 8 years.

The official statement noted that in terms of geography, India topped the list of hiring market in the region while globally, ranking third. India’s year-on-year increase is ranked first globally, outperforming the 40-country average increase since Q3 2021 by 28-points.

Employers in three (North, South and West) out of four regions showed equally strong pace with a Net Employment Outlook of +53% whereas the outlook for East is +41%. In the Asia Pacific region, hiring sentiment strengthens in 5 countries and territories quarter-on-quarter while weakening in two: Singapore and Taiwan. Compared with last year, outlooks weaken in two countries and territories while improving in five. The strongest hiring prospects are reported in India (+49%), followed by Australia (+37%) and Hong Kong (+37%), while the weakest regional labor market is expected in Japan (+11%), Taiwan (+13%) and Singapore (+14%) – the three weakest globally.

ManpowerGroup also surveyed employers on talent shortage being faced and difficulties in finding the required soft skills to match the job.

Key Findings:

• Companies in the IT, Technology, Telecom, Communications and Media sector report hiring outlook of +68% followed by Banking, Finance, Insurance and Real Estate Sector (60%).
• Hiring forecast is least optimistic in the Primary Production and Not for Profit sectors, with a Net Employment Outlook of +25% and +35% respectively.
• 83% of employers surveyed are finding it difficult to fill open position with the biggest impact being felt in the Construction Sector (+85%).

Top five soft skills that organizations have difficulty finding include creativity and originality, critical thinking and analysis, reasoning and problem solving, leadership and social influence and Initiative taking.

Commenting on the findings, Sandeep Gulati, Managing Director, ManpowerGroup India opines, “Despite rising inflation and the geo political instability, there is a positive sentiment across sectors in India in a bid to speed up the recovery process and sustain the economic growth of the country. We are, however, faced with an unprecedented demand supply gap as indicated by our Talent Shortage Survey. Reskilling and upskilling the workforce to mitigate this gap should be the highest priority for employers as well as industry players like us.”