28 December,2009 08:00 AM IST | | Amit Singh
Tier II cities have taken over the national capital in placements, say an industry body
Even as the big cities are getting choked on infrastructure and employment opportunities, the lesser known cities are coming up fast on the employment map of the country.
The cities, which were earlier considered the hub of employment, are slowly but surely making way for what are called tier II cities.
Surat, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh grew more in percentage points regarding placements than metro cities like Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai.
Post-recession, blue chip companies have started hiring and are concentrating on satellite cities, a survey by leading industry body Assocham said.
According to the survey, over a period of seven months starting April this year, a decline in job creation in the major tier I cities like Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai was recorded vis-a-vis robust growth in the tier II cities like Surat, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh.
While Surat registered around 137 per cent growth in employment generation, Lucknow, Gandhi Nagar and Chandigarh registered around 93, 38 and 22 per cent growth respectively. The placements pattern this year clearly shows the increasing interest of the hirers in the smaller cities.
Tier I cities Delhi NCR and Mumbai recorded highest share in job creation with 34 and 13 per cent respectively in total job creation during April to October 2009-10. But as compared to April to October 2008-09, Delhi NCR registered 23 per cent decline in job creation whereas Mumbai registered only 3 per cent growth.
"During the year of crisis, steps taken by the Indian government played a major role in boosting the economic sentiment in the country. However, sectors that mainly depend upon the export and manufacturing activities are found to be remained in red. In this duration, companies have also started concentrating on Tier II cities," said Swati Piramal, president, Assocham.
The impact of stimulus package provided by the government during the economic downturn generated majority of jobs in tier I and tier II cities, but the tier III cities were largely untouched. The analysis of the tier III cities shows that 21 cities out of 33 cities registered decline in job creation during April to October 2009-10 as compared to the same period of the last year. The 33 major tier III cities accounted for around 8 percent share in total employment generation during the period.
Among the tier III cities, Vadodra, Pondicherry and Ankleshwar recorded highest share with 1.02 per cent, 0.58 per cent and 0.56 per cent during the period respectively. As compared to the same period of last year, Ankleshwar and Vadodra registered 14.55 per cent and 1.31 per cent growth, whereas Puducherry registered 27.18 per cent decline in job creation.
The study is based on the data posted by the print media and job portal sites and covered employment trends across 33 prominent sectors located in 6 tier-I, 17 tier-II cities and 33 tier-III cities.
Top five Tier II job creating cities (April - October 2009-10)
| Tier II cities | Share in % | Growth in % as compared to 2008-09 |
| Pune | 5.46 | 6.29 |
| Ahmedabad | 5.01 | 21.50 |
| Chandigarh | 1.95 | 21.58 |
| Surat | 1.13 | 137.02 |
| Lucknow | 0.82 | 0.82 |
| Tier I cities | Share in % | Growth in % as compared to 2008-09 |
| Delhi NCR | 34.06 | -23.42 |
| Mumbai | 13.48 | 3.28 |
| Bangalore | 10.70 | -18.48 |
| Chennai | 5.59 | -11.25 |
| Kolkata | 4.27 | 64.82 |
