DNA
December 31, 2006

NEW DELHI: Jobs, jobs, and more jobs: that is the forecast for 2007, with employment set to chase job-seekers, albeit those with the right skill sets.

The information technology industry alone is projected to generate 2.2 million jobs by 2008. The total addressable market for global off-shoring is approximately $300 billion, of which $110 billion will move offshore by 2010. India is expected to capture more than half of this.

The BPO market will directly employ approximately 2.3 million people and provide indirect employment to another 6.5 million by 2010.

This is just the beginning of the party, according to the TeamLease Services employability primer, which lists these projections. TeamLease is one of the largest staff solutions provider and a top player in the temporary staffing industry today.

“Employment prospects will be extremely bright in 2007, spread across all regions of India,” said Nirupama AG, associate director, TeamLease Services. “A 40 per cent growth in the number of jobs is expected over last year.”

Sudhakar Balakrishnan, director and COO of Adecco India, a leading human resources solutions company, said, “The sectors that will offer the largest number of opportunities will be information technology, IT-enabled services, construction, and infrastructure.”

With skill sets becoming transferable between industries (for example, hospitality industry professionals are also suited for BPO enterprises, and vice-versa), sectors like tourism are also set to shine in the New Year.

“Tourism and personal finance are some of the sectors that will see exclusive and big time spurts in the coming days,” said E Balaji, COO of Ma Foi Management Consultants.

With the internet having made geographical boundaries redundant, organisations are trying to extract the full potential of the sizeable Indian workforce. “Organisations are open to different employment alternatives such as temporary staffing, flexi timings, part-time employment, etc,” said Nirupama of TeamLease.

No wonder the latest Manpower Employment Outlook survey for the first quarter of 2007 predicts that of the Indian employers surveyed 41 per cent expect an increase in hiring activity. But one has to tread the growth path carefully, experts caution. According to Balakrishnan, though jobs are expected to grow faster, the growth will be sustained only if market performance remains upbeat and infrastructure improves.

Balaji agreed, saying the pace of economic growth and capability to attract more FDI will decide how exuberant the job market remains in 2007.