As India battles the lethal second Covid wave amid state-level lockdowns, industries like travel and tourism, education and engineering, cement, construction, iron/steel continue to show decline in job postings, a new report showed on Wednesday.

The employment index by online job search platform Monster saw a decline in job posting activity in April compared to March by 3 per cent.

Overall job postings declined by 4 per cent (year-on-year) as of April and openings for entry-level roles declined by 5 per cent (month-on-month), according to latest data provided by the company.

Despite the decline in overall job postings, some industries continue to hold strong in some specific cities.

Advertising, market research, public relations (PR) in Chennai and Hyderabad noted more than 50 per cent YoY growth.

Banking/financial services, insurance in Kolkata saw a 26 per cent growth (MoM) despite the overall growth in job postings remaining neutral for the location.

Hiring activity in Bengaluru (28 per cent), Hyderabad (23 per cent), and Chennai (16 per cent) indicate strong growth in job postings compared to the previous year.

There has been significant growth in the top management (36 per cent), senior-level (10 per cent), and intermediate level (13 per cent) hiring year-on-year as of April compared to the same month last year.

“The second wave of the pandemic and various intensities of lockdowns across the country have impacted hiring activity. However, hiring activity in some cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai indicate a positive uptick, and year-on-year growth across certain sectors and functions have been witnessed,” said Sekhar Garisa, CEO, Monster.com.

“These are positive indicators that we are better equipped to face the impact this year compared to April 2020,” he added.

As a positive uptick in demand, Government/PSU/defense marked 25 per cent growth in job postings in Delhi/NCR on a month-on-month basis.

However, the overall situation is still grim for metros like Delhi (-1 per cent) and Mumbai (-2 per cent), which have witnessed a decline in postings during the same period.

Job postings for functions such as Senior Management and Software, Hardware, Telecom remain neutral for April 2021.

With a year-on-year (April 2021 vs. April 2020) comparison, the functions of Software, Hardware, Telecom (17 per cent) have witnessed significant growth in job postings, the report showed.