There was a 21 per cent drop in new job generation in Chennai during the first quarter of the current fiscal, according to a recent analysis of the job scenario across India carried out by apex industry body Assocham. The fall was “primarily due to closure of small scale industries owing to unprecedented power crisis”, it said.

A total of over 8,000 new jobs were generated in Chennai during the first quarter 2013-14, against over 10,200 during the corresponding period last year, according to a sector-specific analysis titled ‘Job Trends Across Cities & Sectors,’ conducted by the chamber.

A press release from Assocham said it tracked the data on a daily basis for vacancies posted by over 3,000 companies on various job portals, advertisements in job supplements of national and regional dailies and news journals across 32 sectors offering employment opportunities.

The main reason behind the dismal job scenario is closure of about 25 per cent of small and medium enterprises mainly due to severe power shortage. There were a number of other factors as well, D.S. Rawat, National Secretary General of Assocham, was quoted as saying. These include a global economic slowdown, decline in industrial production, high inflation, overall difficult and unfavourable market conditions which have severely impacted corporate India and made it extremely cautious on the hiring front.

Likely to pick up

The hiring activity across sectors is likely to remain subdued even during Q2 too, as uncertain economic conditions are likely to persist but the industry is hopeful that the job market will pick up by the end of Q2, the release adds.

Amid metros, Delhi-NCR remained on top of the list in new job generation with a maximum share of over 27 per cent compared to other cities. Garnering a year-on-year growth of about 16 per cent, Delhi-NCR generated over 34,000 new jobs in the Q1 of FY13-14 as against over 29,000 jobs during the corresponding period of last year.

>ravikumar.r@thehindu.co.in

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