New Delhi, May 6 (IANS) Hit by COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide lockdown, India saw a 62 per cent decline in job hiring in the month of April, led by hotel/restaurant/travel/airlines industries that saw a massive -90 per cent less hiring activity that the same month last year, a new report said on Wednesday.

The aviation and hospitality industries were followed by auto/ancillary (-82 per cent), retail (-77 per cent) and accounting/finance (-70 per cent), according to Naukri JobSpeak Index.

The job market across cities registered a double-digit dip in hiring.

The decline was led by metros, wherein Delhi declined by 70 per cent followed by Chennai (-62 per cent), Kolkata (-60 per cent) and Mumbai (-60 per cent ).

There was an across-the-board decline in hiring at varied experience levels with the entry-level experience bands (0 to 3 yrs exp) witnessing the sharpest decline of 67 per cent.

"On the jobseeker front, we are prioritizing access and discovery of recently ‘laid off and immediately available to join' jobseekers to the recruiters. Also, there is a complete guide on career progression during these tough times with upskilling courses, hiring insights, CV assessment tools etc," informed Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer, Naukri.com.

Hiring activity in pharma/biotech/clinical research (-54 per cent), IT-software/software services (-49 per cent) and insurance (-42 per cent) was less impacted as compared to other industries in April.

New jobs for professionals in the ticketing/travel/airlines, hotel/restaurants and HR/administration sectors witnessed a dip of 95 per cent, 89 per cent and 78 per cent, respectively.

However, new jobs for professionals in the IT-software (-51 per cent), BPO/ITES/KPO (-54 per cent), pharma/biotech/healthcare (-57 per cent) and teaching/education (-56 per cent) sectors were less impacted as compared to other sectors in April.

The middle management roles (8-12 years' experience) roles declined by 55 per cent, senior management roles (13-16 years' experience) declined by 53 per cent and leadership roles (16+ years' experience) declined by 50 per cent.

--IANS na/