About 220,000 flexible jobs were created in 2023-24, according to an Indian Staffing Federation (ISF) report. Flexi staffing industry grew 15.3% year-on-year, up from 14% in the previous fiscal, as per the ISF’s Annual Employment Trends 2024 report. The total flexi workforce employed by ISF members increased to about 166,000 during the financial year, said a statement by the federation.“The staffing industry also continued to demonstrate QoQ (quarter-on-quarter) growth of 2.3% in Q4 FY24, adding 30,000 new flexi employment opportunities. The market witnessed a significant improvement across most sectors,” said Lohit Bhatia, president, ISF.

The sectors that contributed to the growth were e-commerce, logistics and manufacturing along with healthcare, retail and energy, Bhatia said. “However, there remains a scarcity of skilled workforce across some of these sectors due to talent shortage and labour mobility,” he said.

The growth in general flexi staffing (excluding IT flexi staffing) was driven by sustained demand in sectors such as fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), e-commerce, manufacturing, healthcare, retail, logistics, banking and energy.

“The IT flexi staffing segment witnessed a slow recovery from the previous year, with a decline of -4.4% in new flexi jobs year-on-year by the end of the fiscal year,” the statement said.

“Looking back at the last fiscal, the IT staffing industry showed signs of recovery at +1.5% in Q2 FY24 July-September with an increase in new IT employments, while the industry experienced a degrowth in Q3 with –0.4% as compared to previous quarter, further dropping to –1.1% in Q4 FY24,” said Manmeet Singh, vice president, ISF. “While the de-growth has been significant, the IT industry is starting to recover, showing promise for the coming quarters. GCCs (global capability centres) are adding to the employment growth while others are still picking up in demand.”