BENGALURU: With macroeconomic headwinds and recession fears, hiring in the IT sector has again dipped in January 2023. Last month’s active jobs data shows a 10% drop from the IT sector collective- comprising services, products and start-ups.
After the record low figures- 106,000- in October 2022, the IT collective had shown signs of recovery with improving numbers in November and December. Specialist staffing firm Xpheno said, however, the curve has dipped again in January with the sector putting out 112,000 active jobs, when compared to 124,000 in December 2022.
In its Active Jobs Outlook- January 2023 report, the IT sector’s January 2023 active jobs volume, on Y-o-Y basis, closed 59% lower than the same period last year. In January 2022, active jobs volume was 273,000. Anil Ethanur, co-founder, Xpheno, said 2023 has begun on a rather damp note for hiring in the India Tech Sector. “The macroeconomic movements in the west and other key client markets are having a sustained impact on the Indian Tech Sector’s collective talent demand over the last 12 months,” he said.
The local hiring patterns of the tech sector have also been sensitive to the layoff trends over the last quarter. The gradual drop in hiring demand in the Indian tech sector has been largely correctional, but currently entering a phase of negative impact if further sustained, he added.
The IT sector’s contribution to overall active jobs has hit the record lowest of 40%, according to the firm. The sector had earlier registered an 84% contribution in January 2022. Tech cohort of IT services dropped by 7%, while startups cohort dropped 6% in Active Jobs in January 2023. Software products cohort dropped by 16% over December 2022 volumes.Hiring remains slow across the IT sector. After hiring record numbers in last fiscal, IT companies said its focus this year has been on utilising all that excess capacity. They also want the newest employees to be more productive.
Salil Parekh, CEO and MD of Infosys, recently said, “We have the number of hiring based on what we saw on the demand, and we have also had a very strong hiring for the full year in FY23 and also before that. And we are making sure that all of that hiring goes through our various training and is ready for deployment.”