Hiring for white collar jobs remained steady in May 2025, according to Naukri’s JobSpeak May 2025 report. The JobSpeak index was at 2,807 in May 2025, rising only by a small margin as compared to May 2024’s 2,799.
Among the various industries covered by the report, the Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) sector saw the highest annual increase in hiring by 25%. Conversely, the retail and banking/finance/broking sectors saw a dip of 9% each.
Cities like Delhi NCR, Chennai, and Kolkata saw a significant rise in AI/ML-based hiring, with an increase of 35%, 34%, and 33%, respectively. Those with 13-16 years of experience in this sphere saw an uptick in hiring by 36%, along with freshers at an impressive 22% increase.
“In an otherwise stable job market, what stood out in May was the continued momentum in AI/ML hiring across metros alongside steady demand for senior professionals, a trend that’s held firm over the past year. It was also interesting to witness fresher hiring gain ground in non-tech industries, which bodes well for young talent,” Dr. Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer at Naukri, commented about the findings.
While the overall growth in fresher hiring for May 2025 remained flat, the report claimed that there was an uptick in fresher hiring within the insurance (26% increase), real estate (12% increase), BPO/ITES (5% increase) and hospitality (4% increase) industries.
For professionals with 13-15 years of experience, as well as those with 16 years and above, there was a noticeable rise in hiring at 6%. The oil and gas industry saw a hiring increase for seasoned professionals by 21%, followed by the real estate industry at 17%.
When considering geography, the cities of Hyderabad and Kochi saw the highest uptick in hiring by 7% and 8%, respectively. This was driven mainly by senior-level hiring, revolving around those with experience of 16 years or more, with Hyderabad at 16% and Kochi at 23%. With a 13% increase each, Kolkata and Ahmedabad also saw an impressive rise in hiring seasoned professionals.
Meanwhile, Pune saw its hiring increase by 4%, largely thanks to recruitment by startups, whose hiring increased by 26%. Recruitment in Unicorns grew year-on-year by 19% in May 2025, with Delhi NCR leading the charge at 29%, followed by Hyderabad at 27% and Bengaluru at 12%.