p>Bengaluru: India’s formal job market staged a modest recovery in July after three months of decline, with healthcare and care-economy roles emerging as the clearest bright spots amid an otherwise uneven hiring landscape..According to Indeed data recently, Indian job postings rose 1.2% in July 2026, ending three consecutive months of decline, to stand 8.3% higher YoY and 84% above pre-pandemic levels. While postings have been volatile this year, hiring intensity remains elevated and continues to outpace other markets Indeed tracks..”Indian job postings staged a modest recovery in July, ending three consecutive months of decline. While the rebound was gradual, postings remain well-above pre-pandemic levels and continue to outpace other markets Indeed tracks, a sign that India’s formal economy is still expanding at a healthy clip,” said Callam Pickering, Senior Economist, Indeed APAC..”Healthcare and care-economy roles like medical technicians and childcare are seeing sharp gains, while tech hiring, especially in IT infrastructure and software development, continues to soften,” Pickering added..Indeed’s occupation-level data shows hiring strength is broader than the headline — postings increased across almost 80% of occupations over the past three months. The strongest gains were led by medical technician (30%), childcare (26%), physicians & surgeons (26%), and therapy (25%). In contrast, IT infrastructure, operations & support (-24%), software development (-18%), data & analytics (-14%) and IT systems & solutions (-11%) saw declines..Recruiters say healthcare’s outperformance is rooted in long-term structural drivers rather than short-term financial cycles..”Healthcare hiring is emerging as one of the brightest spots in the employment market because demand for healthcare services continues to rise, even as hiring in some other industries slows. The sector is benefiting from long-term structural trends rather than short-term financial cycles,” said Shailesh Khanna, Business Leader of ManpowerGroup India..According to ManpowerGroup, growth is being driven by ageing populations increasing demand for medical care, long-term care, home healthcare and specialist services; persistent workforce shortages in nursing, allied health, physicians and care support roles; rising prevalence of chronic diseases and greater focus on preventive and community-based care; and growth in specialised roles such as health informatics, healthcare technology, telemedicine, AI-enabled healthcare, cybersecurity and care management..This sectoral resilience is also visible in absolute hiring numbers..According to CIEL HR research shared by MD and CEO Aditya Narayan Mishra, healthcare job postings nearly doubled from around 41,300 in 2024 to 81,500 in 2025 — a 97.5% jump. “This is not just replacement hiring, organisations are expanding capabilities across functions,” Mishra noted..CIEL’s study across 200 companies shows nearly 30% of openings now require a combination of healthcare-domain and digital capabilities, while another 16.8% call for domain, digital and regulated-market expertise. Healthcare employers are increasingly looking for talent that can bring together domain knowledge with technology and regulatory understanding..FM Sitharaman lands in US for six-day visit for G20 talks and meeting with business leaders.By function, Supply Chain and Planning remains the largest volume segment at about 21% of openings, with demand for supply and capacity planners, clinical supply-chain professionals and strategic resource planning managers. Technology and Digital Engineering accounts for around 20.7% of openings, with data, analytics and AI contributing another 6.6% — driving demand for data scientists, machine learning engineers, data engineers, AI developers, Python specialists and DevOps professionals. Regulatory, quality and compliance accounts for 9.2%, while R&D, clinical development, biometrics and statistics contribute another 8.1%..Adecco India says this marks a shift from volume expansion to capability-led growth..”Healthcare is emerging as one of the brighter hiring segments as the sector enters a more capability-led phase of growth, with hiring increasingly aligned to specialisation, regulatory depth and technology integration rather than volume expansion alone,” said Peush Saproo, Associate Director – Permanent Recruitment and Head of Sales, Adecco India..The opportunity now spans a broad ecosystem, from hospitals, home and elder care, and diagnostics to telemedicine, clinical research, pharmaceuticals and public health systems. India’s healthcare and pharmaceutical sector is expected to create over 2-2.5 million new jobs by 2030, with nearly 30-35% of the workforce likely to undergo reskilling, reflecting a shift in how roles are defined across care delivery, research, and manufacturing..While core clinical roles such as doctors, nurses, radiologists, paramedics and trauma and critical care specialists remain important, Saproo said the fastest-growing opportunities are emerging in pharmacovigilance, clinical research, health data, regulatory affairs and AI-enabled healthcare..Technology is also creating new layers of demand. While AI and automation are expected to impact nearly 10-20% of existing tasks between 2026 and 2030, AI-led healthcare jobs are projected to grow by 15-25%. Medical Imaging AI and Clinical AI are emerging as important areas, alongside demand for drug safety associates, clinical research associates, biostatisticians, regulatory specialists and health informatics professionals..ManpowerGroup’s most sought-after list reflects this blend of clinical, allied health, leadership and health-tech roles: Registered nurses, nurse practitioners, physicians and specialists, allied health professionals including physical, occupational, respiratory and radiology technologists and speech therapists, home health and elder care professionals, healthcare technology and digital health roles, medical and health services managers, healthcare cybersecurity professionals, behavioural and mental health professionals, and clinical research and life sciences talent including regulatory affairs and drug safety professionals..Underpinning this is a broader labour market shift. Indeed found that 349 distinct job titles in India — 6.6% of all titles tracked — featured meaningful AI mentions in the March 2026 quarter, double a year ago and nearly quadrupled two years ago. Non-tech occupations now account for 42% of these AI-touched titles, up from 29% two years ago..Overall, the market is clearly shifting towards specialised, tech-enabled and compliance-driven roles, where clinical expertise is increasingly being combined with digital fluency — keeping healthcare as one of the strongest talent markets today even as other sectors cool.</p

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