Archive · 6 Aug 2026
White-Collar Hiring Falls Third Straight Month, July Steepest Decline
Companies in India are hiring fewer office workers than they did a year ago, and hiring has now fallen for three months in a row.
The biggest drop happened in July.
Some businesses, like the ones that move goods around, are cutting back the most.
Other businesses, like travel and holiday companies, car makers, hospitals and property companies, are hiring more people.
Companies are mostly looking for workers with special skills, like health, engineering and computer skills.
They are hiring fewer people for general office jobs.
Jobs connected to artificial intelligence, or AI, are growing, especially for people starting their careers.
Many starter jobs pay less than 5 lakh rupees a year, but some special computer and data jobs pay 8 lakh rupees or more.
Smaller cities like Coimbatore, Jaipur and Kochi are doing better than the country as a whole.
White-collar hiring in India fell 12% year-on-year in July, the sharpest decline of FY27, after contractions of 4% in May and 9% in June.
The foundit Insights Tracker hiring index slipped steadily from 370 in April to 348 in May, 331 in June and 314 in July.
18 of 26 tracked industries reported lower hiring, led by logistics & transportation (-25%) and retail, chemicals & plastics and printing & packaging (each around -20%).
Employers are prioritising specialised and technical roles in healthcare, engineering, IT and global capability centres over general commercial functions; AI-related roles now make up 4% of entry-level hiring, up from about 1% a year ago.
Travel & tourism led growth with 17% annual hiring growth, followed by automotive (+10%), while healthcare & pharmaceuticals and real estate grew 8% each; fresher hiring fell 10% year-on-year.
- Who
- Indian employers and job seekers; data comes from the foundit Insights Tracker (fit) report.
- What
- White-collar hiring fell for the third straight month in FY27, with July recording the steepest year-on-year decline of 12%.
- When
- July, following declines in May (-4%) and June (-9%) of FY27.
- Where
- India; Tier-II cities Coimbatore, Jaipur and Kochi performed better than the national average.
- Why
- A broad-based slowdown led by export-oriented sectors, as companies trimmed general commercial roles while continuing to hire for specialised and technical skills.
- Hiring index trend (Apr–Jul)
- 370 → 348 → 331 → 314
- July year-on-year change
- -12%
- May / June year-on-year changes
- -4% / -9%
- Industries with lower hiring
- 18 of 26 tracked
- Steepest sectoral decline
- Logistics & transportation (-25%)
- Strongest sector growth
- Travel & tourism (+17%)
- AI-led share of entry-level hiring
- 4%, up from ~1% a year ago
- Fresher hiring year-on-year
- -10%