Job market in 2014 looks bleak, but jobs skills improves

The jobs market in India for next year looks bleak, but the skills of the new entrants have improved, according to a new survey.

According to a report ‘India Skills Report 2014’ compiled by PeopleStrong, a human resource company, only a slight surge of about 1.4% in total hiring numbers was projected.

The report said the prospect for jobs doesn’t look good in the year ahead. Interestingly, sectors such as engineering, hospitality and travel will see a rise in their hiring, however, other sectors like like banking, financial services and insurance, information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services, and manufacturing are not expecting a major increase.

“At sub-5% GDP growth, what does one expect? If you talk to the CEOs across sectors about their next year’s plan, the first thing they talk about is cost cutting. When the focus is on cost cutting, you will see optimization of resources than new job creation. The government needs to put in place enough reforms to create that environment (of more investment and job creation). When expansion plans are stuck, you don’t add jobs,” Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and co-founder of PeopleStrong Pankaj Bansal was quoted by media as saying.

Lots of corporations have halted their investment plans and looking for cost-cutting due to slow demand, higher borrowing costs and delayed government sanctions for projects.