Hiring demand was almost flat in January witnessing a one per cent fall compared to the previous month, reflecting the cautious approach of Indian employers due to Omicron conditions, according to a report.

On account of the third COVID-19 wave, the retail sector saw of dip of 8 per cent in demand sequentially, travel and tourism also witnessed an 8 per cent fall, while home appliances slipped 5 per cent, according to the Monster Employment Index (MEI), a comprehensive monthly job analysis report by Monster India.

While agro (5 per cent) and BFSI (4 per cent) sectors continued to grow on a monthly basis, according to the report.

The fall of 5 per cent in home appliances was followed by a drop of 5 per cent in FMCG and food & packaged food, BPO/ITES (-3 per cent), production and manufacturing (2 per cent), and engineering, cement, construction, iron/ steel (2 per cent) industries that showed a negative trend.

Further, education, telecom/ISP, and healthcare, biotech and life sciences, and pharmaceuticals have witnessed a slight fall with a one per cent decline in job postings during January 2022 compared to December 2021.

On the other hand, agro-based industries (5 per cent), BFSI (4 per cent), automotive/ ancillaries/ tyres (3 per cent), government/ PSU/ defence (3 per cent), oil/ gas/ petroleum, power (2 per cent), logistics, courier/ freight/ transportation (1 per cent), and shipping/ marine (1 per cent) witnessed positive uptick in demand for talent on a month-on-month basis.

It is anticipated that the optimistic growth trend in agro-based industries will continue with the promotion of chemical-free natural farming, 'Kisan Drones', and accommodation for agri-tech announced in the Union Budget 2022, said the report. Meanwhile, the overall hiring demand saw a 10 per cent year-on-year growth, indicating an encouraging outlook on jobs in the country, it said.

"The third wave of the pandemic certainly took a toll on several recovering sectors such as travel and tourism and retail in January 2022. "However, it is important to consider that the Index has recorded a 10 per cent yearly uptick, indicating that this one per cent sequential dip is temporary, caused by the Omicron wave," said Sekhar Garisa, chief executive officer of Monster.com, a Quess company.

Garisa added that the company is optimistic for job creation given the Union Budget 2022 announcement, which has highlighted several measures for the growth and support of Indian enterprises across sectors.

The push for digitisation, increased skilling and education and the growth in capital investments will undoubtedly lead to a boost in employment generation, if executed well, he added.

The report further showed that a majority of cities showed a slight uptick in last month due to festive demand, in January compared with the previous month. It, however, showed that cities such as Delhi (-8 per cent) projected the steepest de-growth in job posting activity, followed by Chandigarh (-6 per cent), Baroda (-5 per cent), Hyderabad (-3 per cent), Ahmedabad (-2 per cent), Kolkata (-1 per cent), Mumbai (-1 per cent), Jaipur (-1 per cent) and Chennai (-1 per cent).

Locations that indicated a positive trend are Kochi (1 per cent) and Coimbatore (1 per cent) with a marginal increase in job posting activity, followed by Pune and Bengaluru which witnessed stabilised growth, it added.