New Delhi, March 18: Hiring activity saw a six percent rise in the month of February this year, compared to the same period last year, according to the Naukri.com's JobSpeak Index for the month. Meanwhile, a year-on-year (YoY) comparison highlighted that top metros have maintained a steady growth while the Tier II markets were signaling a healthy uptrend. Mumbai witnessed a significant 12 percent jump in hiring when compared to February 2017.

The auto/auto ancillary sector witnessed a continued uptrend in jobs throughout 2017 on a month on month basis, specifically from October onwards, where a double-digit growth was acheived.

Overall, the industry which incurred a record high in terms of hiring in February'18 was the oil and gas sector, closely followed by banking and financial services and insurance sectors at 16 and 22 percent respectively.

However, compared to February last year, the index noticed less movement for IT and BPO sectors, while jobs in industrial products/heavy machinery segment grew by 22 percent.

Urban cities in the Naukri JobSpeak Index for February'18 have seen a steady rise in hiring. Mumbai saw 12 percent growth, whereas the capital city -Delhi, grew by four percent. Hiring in Bengaluru and Chennai remained flat in the month, while Tier II markets continued to perform well.

The demand to hire seasoned professionals in senior management roles with experience of over 16 years saw 16 percent YoY growth. However, entry-level job seekers having none to three years of experience increased by eight percent in February'18 as compared to February'17.

Working professionals in the mid-management roles with experience requirement of 4-7 years and 8-12 years witnessed 6 and 5 percent growth in hiring respectively.

Functional area analysis showed that hiring in the banking/insurance sector grew by seven percent in February 2018. Production/maintenance and site engineering jobs saw 21 and 19 percent growth respectively, whereas, marketing and advertising roles saw a 9 percent growth over last year.