Workforce Growth Expected At 5.4% In Second Half Of FY27, Led By E-Commerce, Tech: Report

Expansion of workforce across industries is projected at 5.4% in the second half of 2026-27, led by hiring in the e-commerce and technology startups, travel and hospitality, and retail sectors, a report said on Thursday.

The projection of net employment change (NEC) for the October-March period of the current fiscal year rose to 5.4% from 4.7% recorded in the first half, reaching the highest level in the past four half-year periods, according to staffing company TeamLease Services' latest Employment Outlook Report (EOR).

"The employment growth of 5.4% expected in the H2 of FY27 reflects a shift towards more targeted workforce expansion, with businesses aligning talent decisions closely with changing demand. The challenge now is to ensure that hiring plans translate into the right capabilities on the ground," TeamLease Services Senior Vice President Balasubramanian A said.

This will require employers to widen talent pools, build skills faster and adopt more flexible workforce models. At the same time, the measured pace of AI adoption suggests that organisations are still finding the right balance between technology and human capability, he added.

The insights in the TeamLease Services' employment outlook report are based on inputs from 1,239 employers across 23 industries and 20 cities collected between July and August 2026.

Sectors leading the employment surge include e-commerce ad tech startups with 12.6% NEC, followed by travel and hospitality at 12.3% and retail at 10.3%.

Sectors such as automotive (10.1%), EV and EV infrastructure (9.7%) and banking (9.2%) also show strong hiring intent, reflecting continued demand across digital, consumption-led and emerging sectors.

Hiring intent also rises with organisational scale, with 66% of large enterprises planning to expand their workforce, compared with 59% of medium-sized enterprises and 53% of startups, micro and small businesses.

Among cities, Bengaluru leads hiring intent at 68%, followed by Hyderabad at 61% and Pune at 60%, with Pune recording the largest gain this half-year.

However, the ability to convert hiring intent into actual workforce expansion remains closely linked to talent availability.

Among employers planning to grow their workforce, 72% expect moderate to significant difficulty in hiring, with IT (39%), sales and marketing (38%), and engineering (32%) emerging as the functions facing the highest anticipated hiring challenges.

The average time-to-fill for roles stands at 35-45 days, with specialist and site-based positions taking longer, the report added.

The report also revealed a widening gap between AI adoption and workforce-wide AI integration.

While 85% of employers report some level of AI or GenAI use, only 13% have adoption across more than half of their workforce.

This indicates that AI adoption remains broad but shallow, with organisations largely integrating AI tools into existing roles rather than undertaking extensive workforce redesign, the report added.