While global hiring trends continue to show signs of deceleration, India’s formal employment landscape is bucking the trend, recording a significant upswing in job creation across multiple sectors, according to a new report released on Friday by global job platform Indeed. Job postings in India rose by 8.9 per cent in May, signalling a strong revival after a brief slowdown earlier in the year.
The data indicates that the country’s job market is not only resilient but also expanding at a pace that far outstrips many global counterparts. According to the report, India’s job postings remain nearly 80 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels, one of the highest growth rates among major economies. This surge reflects India’s ongoing transformation toward a more structured and formalised economy.
This surge reflects India’s ongoing transformation toward a more structured and formalised economy. As the country transitions away from informal employment practices, formal job creation continues to accelerate, highlighting a broad-based shift in the nature of work and hiring.
As the country transitions away from informal employment practices, formal job creation continues to accelerate, highlighting a broad-based shift in the nature of work and hiring.
“As the nation transitions, job creation across the formal sector continues to outpace overall employment growth,” said Callam Pickering, Senior Economist for Asia-Pacific at Indeed. “This consistent upward trend puts India ahead of many other global economies.” The Indeed data revealed that almost 80 per cent of occupations tracked by the platform witnessed a rise in job postings over the past three months.
This growth has been particularly prominent in sectors such as childcare, personal care and home health, education, and manufacturing — areas that represent both social service and industrial activity. Childcare jobs saw the steepest increase at 27 per cent, followed closely by personal care and home health (25 per cent), education (24 per cent), and production and manufacturing roles (22 per cent).
These figures suggest a rising demand not just in hightech fields, but also in essential service-oriented industries. Despite this broadbased growth, the software development sector continues to be a dominant force in formal hiring. Nearly one in five job listings on Indeed in India are in software development, reaffirming the sector’s importance in the country’s employment landscape.
Another emerging trend is the sharp rise in demand for professionals skilled in generative artificial intelligence (AI). The report notes that 1.5 per cent of all job postings in May referenced generative AI — more than twice the figure recorded a year ago. This reflects the increasing integration of AI technologies across a variety of industries.
While generative AI roles are still rooted primarily in the tech and data analytics sectors, they are now also spreading into scientific research, marketing, and managerial positions. This suggests that AI-related skills are becoming valuable across a wide range of professional disciplines.
Regionally, Karnataka and Telangana are emerging as hotspots for generative AI-related hiring, while Maharashtra continues to lead in overall job volumes. In a global hiring environment marked by caution and contraction, India’s robust formal job growth offers a notable exception — driven by structural economic changes , sectoral diversification, and an evolving technological landscape.