If you had any doubts about the booming employment scene in India, here?s a global reality check. As per Manpower?s Global Employment Outlook Survey, India topped the list of all 23 countries, including other developing economies like China and Mexico, in employers? expectations for additional recruitment for the forthcoming quarter. The quarterly survey, which captures employers? intentions to increase or decrease the number of employees in their workforce during the quarter, revealed that while Indian employers have the most optimistic expectations, those in Switzerland reported the weakest hiring expectation.

The Net Employment Outlook (NEO), which is the percentage of employers anticipating increase in total employment minus the percentage of employers expecting decrease in employment, for India stood at 34%. While 41% of employers surveyed said that they expected to hire more people in the July-September quarter, 7% said they would reduce their workforce in the same period.

Of the rest, 44% expect no change in the number of people and the remaining said they didn?t know. The Indian side of the survey, which was in its first edition in an otherwise long running global survey, further revealed that all seven sectors which are part of the survey have positive hiring intentions for the quarter.

Therein the most optimistic picture was presented by the services sector with NEO of 44% along with finance, insurance and real estate sector(41%). The other top sectors include: mining and construction(40%), manufacturing(34%) and public administration-employment(34%). Wholesale and retail trade(21%) and transportation and utilities(17%) figured lower down the sectoral ladder.

The global employment outlook for the coming quarter reveals that overall hiring activity in Asia Pacific is expected to soften in Q3 of ?05 with employers throughout the region, except those in Hong Kong, reporting quarter over quarter decrease in hiring activity. Since India was not part of the survey in the previous quarter it is excluded from this comparison.

<I>Source : Times of India</I>