By IANS
New Delhi : The overall manpower employment outlook in the country in the first quarter of 2008 is expected to remain buoyant, according to a new survey.
Employers in the mining and construction sector have forecast the strongest hiring plans among the seven sectors covered under the “Manpower Employment Outlook Survey”, conducted by Manpower India and released Tuesday.
“The strong hiring indications in the mining and construction sector comes in the backdrop of heavy investment in infrastructure across the country,” Manpower India managing director Naresh Malhan told IANS.
“There is large-scale construction of roads, airports, power plants, malls and SEZs (special economic zones) all across the country. The introduction of the public-private partnership approach in the construction sector may be adding strength to the growth of this sector.”
Of the 5,163 employers surveyed, 43 percent expect an increase in staffing levels in the first quarter of 2008, one percent anticipate a decrease, and 45 percent are expect no change.
Of the 27 countries and territories surveyed globally this quarter, the hiring intentions continue to be robust in India.
Employers in all eight countries and territories surveyed across the Asia Pacific region anticipate positive hiring activity for the first quarter of 2008.
However, the outlook showed a moderate decrease of five percentage points since the fourth quarter of 2007.
“But then you have to take into account that the first quarter of 2008 is also the last quarter of most companies’ fiscal year. Organisations during this quarter tend to focus on planning and budgeting for the next fiscal year,” Malhan said.
There is an increase of three percentage points the first quarter of 2008 compared to the first quarter of 2007.
Employers in the manufacturing and the public administration and education sectors report the least robust outlooks.
Employers in services, finance, insurance and real estate sectors have reported a considerable decline of 9 percentage points each in their net employment outlook since the last quarter.
Regarding IT, which falls under the services sector in the survey, Malhan said, “The IT sector continues to be a promising sector but it is currently facing pressure because of the appreciation of the rupee.”
Going by regional trends, employers in all four regions in India anticipate positive hiring intentions across industry sectors.
Employers in the west anticipate brisk hiring activity, where the outlook has decreased by 4 percentage points over the previous quarter.
Employment prospects are weakest in the east, which is still an increase of 2 percentage points as compared to the previous quarter.
Employers in the north and south anticipate booming outlooks with decreases of 5 and 9 percentage points, respectively, compared to three months ago.
On the global level, employers in France, Italy and the Netherlands reported their most optimistic hiring intentions since the survey began in these countries.
In addition to India, the strongest first quarter hiring prospects reported globally were in Peru, Singapore, Argentina, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, South Africa, Australia, Japan and Norway. Employers in Ireland reported the least optimistic hiring plans.
The seven sectors across which the survey was conducted in India include finance, insurance and real estate; manufacturing; mining and construction; public administration and education; services; transportation and utilities, and wholesale and retail trade.