Workforce expansion is a critical indicator of economic growth, business confidence and organisational strategy.
About 56% of the surveyed employers across 23 industries said their workforce will likely grow in the coming months, while 23% anticipate maintaining manpower at the current levels with replacement hiring, showed the findings of the survey shared exclusively with ET.
Economists and company officials attributed the uptick in hiring to an overall growth in corporate turnover, above 7% projected GDP growth, rising capex and steady public spending despite continuing global macroeconomic headwinds, caution, and layoffs in some sectors.
In the survey sample, 21% foresee declining staff numbers.
“The incremental growth in hiring is on account of a pick-up in the domestic economy with headline inflation showing signs of moderating and GDP growth expected to be better in H1 vs Q3 and Q4 of last fiscal (FY24),” said Kartik Narayan, CEO, staffing, TeamLease Services.He also attributed the positive hiring sentiment to expectations of better than normal monsoon. “The rural economy is expected to do better if monsoons are above normal and that may lead to an increase in rural and semi-urban consumption that was lagging last year,” he added.
Industries expected to have the greatest positive change in workforce size are construction & real estate (11.5%), travel & hospitality (9.86%), and EV & EV infrastructure (9.17%). Industries with most employers indicating plan to increase their workforce are healthcare, pharma, automotive, manufacturing, engineering, and infrastructure.
Niranjan Hiranandani, managing director of Hiranandani Group, attributed the increase in demand for manpower to growth in the construction, real estate, infrastructure and housing sectors.
“The construction and real estate sector grew by about 15% last fiscal year, and this year (FY25), another compounded growth of 12-15% is estimated. However, even as there is overall growth in the industry and there is no shortage of capital availability, there is an acute dearth in the supply of manpower,” said Hiranandani.
“About 10-15 years ago if I needed 100 skilled workers – such as carpenters, fitters, plumbers, electricians – I would get a supply pool of 400, but today if I need to appoint 100 workers, I will not get more than 20,” he added.