40 pc of workforce anticipates fewer jobs in immediate future: LinkedIn

As the Indian workforce navigates a shrinking job market, two in five or 40 per cent professionals believe that the number of jobs and scheduled interviews will decrease in the next two weeks, according to the fifth edition of LinkedIn Workforce Confidence Index released on Tuesday.

The news comes as bittersweet as more than one in three professionals state that they will now spend more time working on their resumes and preparing for interviews. Findings also show India's consistent focus on upskilling as 67 per cent of the workforce state that they will continue to increase time spent online learning.

Based on survey responses of 2,903 professionals during May 4 to 31, findings show while India's overall confidence remains steady with a composite score of plus 49, the country's confidence in jobs is beginning to trend downward. This comes at a time when India is beginning to 'unlock' and reboot its business landscape.

The report also states that professionals from healthcare, manufacturing and corporate service industries are more likely to anticipate a decrease in personal spending and personal investments in the next six months.

With the country's continued focus on social distancing, people are expected to control their discretionary spending, despite improved access to resources. Findings reaffirm this trend as two in five employees in manufacturing (38 per cent), corporate services (40 per cent) and healthcare (45 per cent) will decrease personal spending in the next six months.

Findings also show that 52 per cent of healthcare, 48 per cent of corporate services and 41 per cent of manufacturing professionals anticipate a decrease in investments in the next six months.

Over the past three months, many orgsations have shifted to a remote working model to circumvent the pandemic and ensure business continuity. This fortnight's findings show that three in five (61 per cent) marketing professionals feel confident about being effective when working remotely.

They are joined by more than half of project management (56 per cent) and engineering (54 per cent) professionals who are also confident about the effectiveness of remote working. In contrast to this optimism, only 39 per cent of human resource, 36 per cent of finance and 31 per cent of education professionals think they will be effective when working remotely.

( With inputs from ANI )