Smaller cities edge out metros in employment opportunities

An article in Hindustan Times talks about how smaller cities edging out the metros in job creation and hiring, a trend attributed to companies looking for newer markets and dedicated workers with knowledge of local business; along with inputs from Rituparna Chakraborty.

If you are in a non-metro city, you have a better chance of landing a job with a private company.

Latest trends from top headhunting agencies show smaller cities edging out the metros in job creation and hiring, a trend attributed to companies looking for newer markets and dedicated workers with knowledge of local business.

This could be crucial for the Narendra Modi government’s push to revive industry and create jobs needed to absorb about 10 million people joining the workforce every year.

So far, the government has been unable to find a way around to kickstart a host of stalled projects needed to boost growth. A lack of enough skilled manpower is also expected to hurt industry unless the government succeeds with efforts such as the Skill India programme.

Among the cities emerging as the new employment hot spots are Chandigarh, Jaipur, Coimbatore, Baroda and Pune, reports by agencies such as Naukri.com, Teamlease Services and Monster.com show.

“In metros, we have reached a saturation point where most of the skilled people are either employed or expect high salaries. Companies have started looking for niche-skilled employees at reasonable costs in smaller towns,” said Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder at staffing firm, Teamlease Services.

Statistics confirm the new trend.

For instance, job openings in Mumbai stood at 1,470 in August last year which grew to 1,499 in a year, registering a marginal growth of 2%. Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata show similar trends.

In contrast, Jaipur registered a healthy growth of 36% – job openings rising from 2,665 in August 2015 to 3,638.