These three sectors can grow and even hire people despite Covid-19 crisis

• As more people stay confined to their homes due to the nationwide lockdown, the demand of essentials and their online supply increased significantly.
  
• According to Ajay Shah, VP, Recruitment at the staffing firm TeamLease Services, the sectors that are focussed on delivery of essential goods and services are most likely to witness a positive trend.
  
• This will in turn lead to an increase in the demand for manpower and the hiring is expected to go up by 20%, says experts .
  
• “The sectors like retail, medical supply and services, personal and healthcare, information and communication technologies and ecommerce will be the top gainers at this point,” Shah said.

The spread of Coronavirus has rattled the economies, shut down businesses and stressed many employees and employers alike. However even during these dark times, a set of businesses are thriving and also expected to hire more people going ahead.

E-commerce sector to have a buoyant mood

On the top of this list is e-commerce. As more people stay confined to their homes due to the nationwide lockdown, demand of essentials and their online supply has increased significantly. While a few cities are stalling deliveries, many others are enabling them and expected to enable even more.

According to Ajay Shah, VP, Recruitment at the staffing firm TeamLease Services, the sectors that are focussed on delivery of essential goods and services are most likely to witness a positive hiring trend.

The outbreak has impacted consumer buying patterns, especially the household essentials and basic utilities.

“Consumers will become further warmed up to the concept of online buying. Consumer demand has increased by an average of 50%. On our platform, we are witnessing a 50% spike in daily average orders. In fact, our business has also grown by 60%,” Sourjyendu Medda, CBO and Founder of DealShare, which is providing essential services to Tier II and Tier III cities, told Business Insider.

Increase in the demand for manpower

This will in turn lead to an increase in the demand for manpower, like in the case of delivery agents. Medda says that hiring is expected to go up by 20% in the sector. “Even at DealShare we are planning to strengthen our talent pool by 50%, to ensure that we can cater to the needs of the consumers at this time of need. We are catering to approximately more than 10,000 consumers on a daily basis,” he said.

In addition to this, the healthcare and pharmaceuticals industry is also expected to gain from the current situation. This directly impacts healthcare staff, which is at the forefront to battle and contain Coronavirus and the medical suppliers that are facilitating it.

Given the current situation, India is now prioritising in-house manufacturing of pharmaceutical ingredients after Coronavirus disrupted the global supply chain — leading to shortage of drugs, face masks, ventilators and more. India said it will spend $1.3 billion for pharmaceuticals. It means money is flowing to the sector, which could increase hiring - contract and otherwise.

Search for healthcare jobs increase

According to Indeed, the search for healthcare jobs is also on the rise. “As the job market slows down in the wake of a global pandemic, essential services continue to drive demand, such as in the medical and public health fields. Despite the temporary slump in the sector, healthcare continues to be one of the foremost drivers of the nation’s economic growth,” said Sashi Kumar, MD at Indeed.

“The sectors like retail, medical supply and services, personal and healthcare, information and communication technologies and ecommerce will be the top gainers at this point. These will likely see a positive growth in the demand for manpower,” Shah told Business Insider.

Information and communication technology leads the way

The IT sector is also set to gain as most of India today is working from home, given the pandemic. In fact, shares of video conferencing platforms — Zoom video and Skype — are also soaring. While stocks of those with face-to-face interactions are plummeting, including automobiles and airlines.

“More companies are asking their employees to work from home, believing that productivity won’t get affected — which means that this is the future of work and interaction where the companies no longer need to assemble people in places,” education entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala said.

See also:
Over 136 million jobs are at risk due to Corona lockdown — Here are the worst-hit sectors

List of essential services operational during a lockdown