The Indian job market witnessed a sharp recovery in March after two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, growing by 18.4 per cent headcount growth (year-on-year) across key sectors led by travel and hospitality sector, a new report showed on Monday.

The travel and hospitality sector, which was the worst affected due to Covid-induced lockdowns over the last two years, witnessed a robust recovery with a 47.6 per cent growth in payroll headcount in March, according per payroll distribution data collated by Allsec Technologies, a Quess Corp company which is a leading business services provider.

Considering the pandemic strain on the travel and hospitality industry, it was encouraging to see this growth in contrast to the 48.7 per cent decline last year (March 2021 vs March 2020).

"We have seen an optimistic recovery pattern across industries this month. It is heartening to see travel and hospitality lead the way, along with several other industries which were severely impacted by the pandemic," said Ashish Johri, CEO, Allsec Technologies.

However, the travel and hospitality industry is not quite back to pre-pandemic levels but is certainly on the way to recovery.

The energy sector followed close behind with a 41.5 per cent yearly increase in headcount in March this year, surpassing pre-pandemic levels with a 42 per cent growth.

The IT/ITes industry performed considerably well with a 27 per cent uptick in March, accompanied by logistics which saw a 27.3 per cent growth.

Industries such as financials (16.6 per cent) and Food and Beverage (12.9 per cent) also showed optimistic year-on-year trends.

While most sectors have recovered from the pandemic, Healthcare (-8.3 per cent) and e-commerce (-1.5 per cent) witnessed a marginal drop (March 2022 vs March 2021).

Wholesale/retail traders (-2.1 per cent) also saw a drop which can be attributed to lockdowns and restrictions that curbed businesses over the past year, according to the report.