September 2022 India labour market update: Retail jobs and delivery job focus
- Employment growth is slowing in retail trade
- At 6.29%, job seekers in Chennai accounted for the lion’s share of clicks for delivery jobs in India
- Job posting in India is at 62%
Job growth has continued to power ahead this year and rapidly. As India’s largest e-commerce players and retail giants host their big shopping events, Indeed – the world’s #1 job site, looked at a job segment critical to the functioning of the sector – delivery jobs and retail sectors.
Overall job market overview:
The Indian labour market remains hot. As the Indian economy has bounced back from the initial COVID-19 shock, demand for labour has grown much more quickly than supply. Employment has rebounded and is definitely at a better pre-pandemic level. The labour market is showing signs of normalizing, particularly as demand for workers cools. Employer demand for workers remains strong, with Indeed job postings as of the end of September at 62% above their pre-pandemic baseline. New job postings, defined as those on Indeed for seven days or less, are also well above their pre-pandemic baseline, up 39.6% at the beginning of September 2022.
Update on retail and delivery jobs:
Indians searching for retail jobs see a fall during the pandemic and beyond. Jobs in retails have seen a 5.50% degrowth in the past three years August 2019 – August 2022. Although jobs in retail saw an uptick of 27.70% in 2020 – 2021 it again de-grew last year. This could largely be due to the lockdowns last year and the work from home set up where people chose to purchase online during festivities.
| Time Period | % Change in Jobs per 1M |
| Aug 2019 to Aug 2020 | -16.10% |
| Aug 2020 to Aug 2021 | 27.70% |
| Aug 2021 to Aug 2022 | -11.80% |
What roles are being hired and clicked?
Managerial roles like ‘branch manager’ have the highest number of job postings (22.9%) whereas associate level roles were slightly less. However, in terms of interest from jobseekers, operational roles like store manager, retail sales associate, cashier etc have more demand.
The top 5 retail job titles that are being hired are:
| Occupation | Change in retail search (%) |
| Branch manager | 22.9% |
| Retail sales associate | 10.07% |
| Store manager | 9.52% |
| Logistics associate | 4.58% |
| Merchandiser | 4.38% |
Top 5 retail job titles job seekers click for are –
| Occupation | Change in retail search (%) |
| Store manager | 15% |
| Retail sales associate | 14.4% |
| Cashier | 11% |
| Branch manager | 9.49% |
| Logistics associate | 9.08% |
Sashi Kumar, Head of Sales for Indeed India said, “The festive months in India are usually a time where we see an increase in seasonal jobs to meet the increasing demand. Even though the percentage increase of jobs hasn’t been on par with last year, that’s not to say a substantial number of jobs have not been created. Over 39.6% new jobs have been. We see the discrepancy with last year given the global recessions happening, possible inflations, and the cautious nature of hiring currently.”
Top cities in India for jobs in retail and delivery
Bengaluru holds the largest share of jobs in retail nationally, with 12.26% of all retail jobs located in the city. It is followed by Mumbai at 8.2% and Chennai at 6.02% of all retail jobs in the country, and Hyderabad and Pune, with 4.02% and 3.57% of the same respectively. Cities that hired the least are smaller cities like Mysore (0.35%), Jalandhar (0.33%) and Bhubaneswar (0.33%) where the demand is on the lower side.
Top cities in India for jobs in Retail:
| City | Percentage of retail jobs |
| Bengaluru | 12.26% |
| Mumbai | 9.45% |
| Chennai | 6.02% |
| Hyderabad | 4.02% |
| Pune | 3.57% |
| City | Percentage of clicks for retail jobs |
| Mumbai | 8.32% |
| Bengaluru | 6.08% |
| Chennai | 5.19% |
| Hyderabad | 3.10% |
| Pune | 2.52% |
Top cities in India for job clicks in Retail:
Delivery jobs have seen the highest demand in Bengaluru as well with 5.5% of all delivery jobs in the country being generated in this city. This is followed by Chennai (4.92%), Mumbai (4.16%), Kolkata (3.75%) and Hyderabad (3.27%). However in terms of demand from jobseekers, Chennai ranks first with 6.29% of jobseekers searching for delivery jobs followed by Hyderabad (5.23%) and Kolkata (4.85%).
Top cities in India for jobs in Delivery:
| City | Percentage of delivery jobs |
| Bengaluru | 5.5% |
| Mumbai | 4.16% |
| Chennai | 4.92 |
| Kolkata | 3.75% |
| Hyderabad | 3.27% |
| City | Percentage of clicks for delivery jobs |
| Chennai | 6.29% |
| Mumbai | 5.86% |
| Hyderabad | 5.23% |
| Kolkata | 4.85% |
| Bengaluru | 4.75% |
About Indeed:
More people find jobs on Indeed than anywhere else. Indeed is the #1 job site in the world and allows job seekers to search for millions of jobs on the web or mobile in over 60 countries and 28 languages. More than 250 million people each month search for jobs, post resumes, and research companies on Indeed.
