Despite a slowdown in internal hiring due to a challenging macro environment and cost optimization efforts, the Information Technology (IT) sector saw a significant rise in demand for high-skill gig workers during the first six months of 2023. According to a survey conducted by gig work platform Awign, the demand from the IT sector surged by 157 percent.
Tech Talent Surge: High-Skill Gig Workers Transforming India’s IT Sector Amidst Layoffs and Cost Optimization
The most sought-after tech roles in the IT sector included Java, Python, React, Vue, Angular, Data Science, and Full-stack development, along with other skills like Go lang, ML, Microservices, C, C Sharp, PHP, Dot net, and Laravel. These roles primarily targeted mid-level and senior professionals with two to seven years of experience.
The majority of these high-skill gig workers were concentrated in Tier-I cities such as Bangaluru, Mumbai, and Hyderabad, accounting for 50 percent of the professionals. Tier-2 cities like Coimbatore, Nashik, and Mysore represented 35 percent, while the remaining 15 percent came from Tier 3 cities, including Raipur and Vijaywada. Notably, many of these gig workers were former employees who were laid off by various startups in the country, and the number of such laid-off employees reached 25,805 in India between 2022 and 2023.
Surge in High-Skilled Gig Workers: Awign’s Platform Revolutionizing India’s Gig Economy Amidst Cost-Cutting and Layoffs
Annanya Sarthak, Co-Founder & CEO of Awign, observed that in the current landscape of cost-cutting, business optimization, and layoffs, there has been a surge in the participation of high-skilled gig workers in the gig economy. Businesses are recognizing the benefits of tapping into this talent pool to access highly-skilled professionals on-demand, leading to cost savings and improved operational efficiency.
Awign’s platform facilitates businesses in leveraging high-skilled gig workers across different industries, thereby transforming work dynamics and creating meaningful opportunities during these challenging times.
During the first quarter that ended on June 30, top Indian IT companies, including Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), HCLTech, and Wipro, collectively reported a decline of 10,795 in net headcount addition. This figure is a significant contrast to the 31,671 people that these three companies had added on a net basis in the same quarter the previous year.
