Bangalore: The Monster Employment Index has registered an annual growth rate at 12 percent in October. Index showed a decline by two points on a month-over-month basis. Printing and packaging records sharp annual decline while import and export followed by IT hardware and software is the fastest moving sector annually. While Art and Creative top the longer term growth in occupation chart for the third consecutive month, Marketing and Communication registers the maximum decline. The annual growth monitored by Index in all 13 cities in positive. The Monster Employment Index India is a monthly gauge of online job demand based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities culled from a large representative selection of career Web sites and online job listings across India. The Index does not reflect the trend of any one advertiser or source, but is an aggregate measure of the change in job listings across the industry. "The Monster Employment Index India maintained positive momentum with double digit annual growth driven by persistently elevated recruitment activity across sectors like IT-Hardware, Software, Telecom ISP and Banking/Financial Services and Insurance," said Sanjay Modi, Managing Director (India/ Middle East/ South East Asia, Monster.com. Industry Year-over-year Trends shows that 16 out of the 27 industry sectors monitored by the Index exhibited positive annual growth. The import and export led growth in all sectors and it turned out to be the top monthly gainer. Online Hiring activity in IT - Hardware, Software (up 31 percent) was among top five annual gainers. However, the online hiring activity eased 5 percent between September and October and related BPO and ITES (up 14 percent) registered a 2 point monthly gain. Despite moderation in pace Banking and Financial Services/Insurance (up 24 percent) sector continued to exhibit upward annual growth trend. Advertising, Market Research, Public Relations (down 14 percent) and Printing and Packaging (down 15 percent) registered the steepest annual declines. Occupation Year-over-year Trends shows eleven of the thirteen occupational groups online demand improved between October'10 and October'11.Arts and Creative (up 30 percent) was the leading annual gainer again in October while monthly demand held constant at the September level. Finance & Accounts (up 20 percent) experienced a drop in monthly demand for the first time since July'11. Marketing & Communications (down 4 Percent) registered the steepest annual decline while Legal professionals saw opportunities taper further on the month; online demand for the occupational group matched year-ago levels. According to the Geographic year-over-year Trends all 13 locations monitored by the index exhibit positive and strong longer-term trends even in October. While all cities exhibit improved year-on-year trends, online opportunities dropped below the six-month ago level (April'11) in all 13 cities. Coimbatore (up 16 percent) and Kochi (up 20 percent) aside, recruitment activity eased on the month in all cities.