BetterPlace’s Festive Season Insight predicts a 72% increase in demand for frontline workers during FY24 compared to FY23.
Pravin Agarwala, Co-founder and Group CEO at BetterPlace, highlights a shift in the workforce landscape in India. The current challenge lies not in a demand-supply gap but in a skill-demand gap. While the demand for frontline workers, especially semi-skilled ones, is on the rise, the supply of skilled workers struggles to keep up. Agarwala emphasizes the need for upskilling to bridge this gap, especially during the lucrative festive season where semi-skilled workers can significantly increase their earnings.
Key insights from the report include the anticipation of creating 5 million jobs during the festive months of October, November, and December 2023—a notable 72% increase from the previous year. Although job vacancies decreased by 25% from FY22 to FY23, the surge in demand this year suggests a normalization of consumer spending.
Despite a dip in demand in FY23, industry average salaries witnessed a marginal increase of 3.25% from the festive season of FY22. Notably, sectors like Infrastructure and Facility Management & Information Technology (IFM&IT) saw a substantial 30% salary hike, while Retail & QSR experienced a 7% increase. Conversely, e-commerce and Logistics & Mobility faced salary reductions of 8% and 16.7%, respectively, attributed to an oversupply of workers in these sectors during the festive season.
Analyzing trends from FY23, the quarter preceding the festive season witnessed a surge in demand for frontline workers, indicating proactive hiring by enterprises. Attrition rates during this pre-festive season period were the lowest, while during the festive season, they aligned with other quarters. This suggests that workers are aware of higher-paying opportunities during the festive season, leading to increased job switching.
An #exclusive conversation with @manish_tiwary, Vice President of Indian Consumer Business at Amazon, discussing trends for this festive season, job creation, and more.@SakshiBajaj19 reports. pic.twitter.com/ZU1Cv42qeP
— NDTV (@ndtv) October 16, 2023
During the festive season, Logistics & Mobility and Manufacturing observed the highest levels of attrition due to lower salaries. In contrast, sectors like BFSI and IFM&IT, offering higher festive season salaries, experienced a decline in attrition rates.
In summary, the BetterPlace Festive Season Insights paint an optimistic picture of job creation, emphasizing the importance of upskilling to meet the growing demand for frontline workers during this festive period.