Indian Job Industry In Times Of COVID19

Like most other developing countries, Coronavirus(COVID) has impacted the livelihoods of millions in India during these trying times. While some industries like mobile handsets have affected lightly, others like airlines are almost on the brink of bankruptcy. Few such as the IT and the EdTech continue to add new employees to support the digital growth seen in the country.  We shall be looking at how Coronavirus along with other factors impacted the job scenario in these industries, and also look at how hiring has impacted for some specific companies that are big names in India. 

Impact Of COVID On Different Sectors:

In the figure above, you can see how badly the different industries of the country impacted highly, and what path the job scene expected to follow. Major industries like retail, real estate, auto manufacture, and tourism have seen a massive number of job losses, especially of contractual staff. Few like IT, EdTech and Finance have added new numbers and expected to hire more in this financial calendar.

Impact Of COVID on IT Sector:

If you belong to the IT crowd and you are experienced in newer technologies like Data Science, Machine Learning, or are adept in specific domain knowledge such as finance or healthcare, chances are, you will be able to keep your job during these times. Such specializations are important today since most IT companies are trying to shed their weight, and reduce their numbers, and create a more efficient and reliant workforce. Restructuring is the norm, and due to it, professionals who did not meet the criteria are seeing themselves flooding the streets. At the same time, most of the software professionals provided with offer letters before the virus hit us, will be joining their respective companies, and software firms will also be hiring freshers from colleges, to add to their talent pool. Even though the joining dates postponed, for now, few have rescinded their offer letters. 

Impact Of COVID On FMCG:

Companies in the FMCG sector have not seen a big fall in sales, and hence we can see that HUL has already hired 100 interns from B-Schools across the country. As per some reports, consumption has already reached 85% of pre-COVID times in rural India, whereas urban areas regions have stagnated at 70%. The industry will face minimum impact, due to rising orders in the online sector, and jobs expected to grow, and minimum layoffs.

Manufacturing:

The manufacturing sector that contributes around 20% to the Indian GDP, has been hard hit by the coronavirus. The auto-manufacturing industry that makes up 50% of this sector, is having it even worse. The industry was already impacted to a large extent due to the BS-4 to BS-6 transition. In the entire month of April 2020, not a single car sold in India. Due to the uncertain logistical conditions, it is difficult to calculate when sales will pick up again. As a result of this, the manufacturing industry as a whole has seen heavy job losses, as well as salary cuts to sustain the sector in the longer run. 

Airlines, Transport, and Tourism:

These industries have faced the biggest losses. Companies have had to fire 10% of their workforce and the remaining have to deal with massive forced pay cuts. Companies have also gone to the extent of withdrawing offer letters. While the domestic market is sluggishly getting back into shape, it will probably be months, if not years, before international travel gets back to its pre-COVID numbers. In such a scenario, bigger full-service airlines will face higher losses and the chances of fresh hirings in the aviation sector remain bleak at the moment.

One of the biggest names in travel and tourism, Oyo– a company that grew to become the largest hotel chain in India and the third-largest in the world, has also been one that has been most deeply impacted by the COVID crisis. Pay-cuts, dismissals, and more- that has been the daily news from the travel and tourism sector. Even with the lockdown lifted in different parts of India, it is unlikely that people will start going on holiday at the moment. As per certain reports, occupancy rates are still down to just 30% of pre-COVID times. Even as the industry looks towards a quick recovery, the effects of COVID-19 expected to last longer for this sector, than any other. In such a scenario, job opportunities will be rare and preference will towards contractual workers who can be hired and fired based on market demands and lockdown-situations.

Edu-tech:

While around 180 countries closed their schools towards the end of March 2020, there has been a rush to move to online classes. Thanks to the high percentage of smartphone penetration, online education has seen a large number of takers across the country, even in rural India. Options like Being able to load videos over low bandwidth, as well as, download and watch later are becoming common. Certain states are even trying to get these online lectures to places where the internet or the devices to access the internet are unavailable through the use of televisions. 

Led by the biggest names like Unacademy and Byju’s. As many as 14 EdTech startups have raised funds amid the COVID crisis. Based on the growth, it is highly likely that online teaching faculty. Along with developers to build the software will need to be hired. Along with that project managers, marketing, sales, and designing personnel will require as well, to scale up. Due to the multiple benefits of being able to study from home. The growth in this industry expected to be a sustainable one. And job opportunities in different positions in this sector have already opened up.

E-commerce:

As the fear of the virus spread across the country, lockdown got imposed in most cities. As a result of this, retail sectors have been hit due to two major reasons-

1. Retail outlets can only be open at specific times of the day. Some days, they need to be shut completely due to total lockdown. On top of this, most malls are still closed due to fear of a massive spread of the virus.
2. There is a fear among the public that stepping out to visit retail outlets may lead to getting infected. Due to the chances of coming in contact with a carrier.

While regular eCommerce orders did see a boost at times. Specific categories like groceries and everyday household items saw a high demand. Category-specific players like Grofers and BigBasket saw a growth of 80-100% due to this demand shift. Multiple companies like Amazon and Paytm have started hiring or plan to hire more permanent staff. As well as temporary workers to handle the new demand hike. While delivery agents have seen higher salaries and more demand. In case of the demand drop, these contractual employees may likely let go.

Restaurants and Entertainment:

COVID-19 has dealt a deadly blow to restaurants across the country as dine-in either blocked in most places or the numbers just aren’t enough. Since a lot of their sales used to come from drinks and beverages and delivering food. It does not make enough to retain expensive restaurant locations. Shops in posh neighborhoods like Khan Market in Delhi have closed down.

But all is not dark. The cloud kitchen industry expected to grow up to 5 times in just 5 years. Since you can cook and deliver from anywhere, there’s a massive benefit of reduced cost. As well as an option to expand based on location-wise demand. Even the big names like Marriott Chain are starting regular food delivery options for people. And many have come up with weekly or monthly plans to cater to the crowd that is working from home today. It is unlikely though that too many jobs in this sector will open up soon. Since most of those who are present in physical locations today will themselves be moving. Or setting up cloud kitchens, to stay viable.

Conclusion:

As we saw, the data in most sectors is grim, but it is the data itself that brings back hope. This sheet shows how unemployment was the highest during the major lockdown period in India. And how it is slowly coming down. As people grapple with the epidemic. We will have to learn to live with the virus and find ways around it. Economic stagnation can have a larger effect than the virus will.

And governments around the globe are trying to balance their efforts between fighting the virus and improving employment numbers. India too is seeing migrant workers coming back to work on construction projects. And the rise of consumer goods sales once more. While recruiting stats will improve over the months. Companies will probably be hiring for newer roles that are now more relevant than ever before. Professionals will have to reskill and adapt to stay relevant in the age of COVID. Along with this, there is a need for quality job data during times like these. This is where JobsPikr comes in, you can search, download, and scrape job data from different job boards across the globe.