NEW DELHI: The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has hit virtually all industries hard, triggering a sharp pullback in hiring as well as a significant number of layoffs. While the shockwave was felt first by the likes of aviation, retail, tourism and hospitality, white-collar workers in the technology and other services sectors are now feeling the heat.
Data from staffing firm CIEL HR Services shows that hiring is down by 60 per cent across sectors. “Retail, hospitality, logistics, manufacturing and construction are among the worst hit as businesses shutter to contain the spread of COVID-19,” said its CEO Aditya Mishra.
Conversely, a surge of jobs are opening up with e-grocers, warehouses as well as the healthcare services industry hunting for employees to meet the increased demands caused by the virus. But most of these are temporary employment and for low wages, ergo they will not be able to offset the vast layoffs we are seeing at small businesses.
Headhunters say the actual job losses in the formal sector will be seen only in the middle of the April-June period since most companies aren’t resorting to immediate staff retrench given the sensitivity of the pandemic. Unemployment claims, however, have multiplied to reach an all-time high of 200 million in March which experts say will climb further.
“Our estimate shows unemployment has reached a level of 200 million in March, bigger than what was witnessed during the 2008-09 global financial crisis,” Mishra said, adding it could recover gradually over the next 8-10 weeks till June if the nationwide lockdown is lifted on April 15.
According to technology consulting firm Zinnov, 45 per cent of multinationals present in India, also known as Global In-house Centers (GICs) have paused all further hiring. Currently, there are 1,200 GICs in India generating revenue of $28 billion annually and employing close to a million people.
The IT/ITes sector has also seen a 40 per cent drop in hiring across all levels with many placing some of their existing staff on furlough.
Even CXO level hiring -- typically, the last in the list to face the axe as companies can't hold off hiring for critical roles such as operations and finance -- has been put on hold. “Senior-level hiring, which is considered as critical hiring and usually remains insulated from various factors, is set to be delayed by at least a quarter,” said Kamal Karanth, a co-founder of staffing solutions provider Xpheno.
“At least ten clients scheduled to fly from the US and Germany to meet CXO candidates in March had to cancel travel plans, putting hiring on the back-burner. While only two of these firms have turned to video calls, they want to close the search only after face-to-face meetings,” said the managing partner of a hiring firm, requesting anonymity.
In terms of campus hires, too, the date of joining has been delayed for those expected to join in April, said Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder and executive vice-president of TeamLease Services. “Keeping financial prudence in mind, organisations are not willing to invest in high-cost resources till they have more clarity on the way forward,” she added.
Meanwhile, experts argue that economic downturns bring about increased levels of labour-replacing automation, which is already an existential threat to many jobs. “Put simply, any coronavirus-related recession, due to its width and scale, could also mean more robots and fewer jobs in the coming days,” said Saundarya Rajesh, Founder – President, AVTAR Group.
While all are equally vulnerable, the robot revolution will be worse for women in particular as about 65 per cent of female workers are engaged in low-skilled jobs and their roles could become redundant, she added.