India’s Job Market Shows Resilience As Postings Fall 5% YoY: Bain & Company

Bengaluru: Bain & Company, in its latest analysis 'Global Job Market Trends' of global job postings, finds that second-quarter job postings fell year over year across major markets, industries, and functions – even as AI-related roles continued to grow. India was among the markets that fared better, with job postings down 5% year over year, compared with steeper declines across several other major markets. The data points to a two-speed labor market, with broad weakness in many sectors and functions coexisting with continued demand in AI-adjacent roles.

Labor demand remains weak across major markets, although India fared better. France (-40%), Brazil (-39%), and the Netherlands (-33%) suffered the largest year-over-year declines among the top 10 markets tracked, followed by Germany (-27%) and the United States (-23%). India (-5%), Canada (-4%), Japan (-7%), China (-10%), and the UK (-9%) fared better.

Core functions remain under pressure. Most major functions recorded double-digit year-over-year declines, with research, design, and development seeing the largest drop at 37%, followed by sales (-32%), marketing (-32%), strategy and analytics (-27%), IT (-25%), and finance (-24%). Engineering (-7%) and other general and administrative functions (-13%) were relatively more resilient.

Bucking the overall trend, AI hiring grew but remains volatile. AI-related postings totaled roughly 351,000 in Q2 2026, up 60% from Q2 2025 and 12% from Q1 2026. AI-related postings also represented a larger share of total postings than a year earlier, although they remained a small portion of overall demand.

Entry-level jobs dropped year over year. Postings for junior jobs, representing 95% of all job postings for the quarter, fell 11% year over year, an acceleration from the first quarter’s 6% year-over-year decline.

Broad-based hiring remains elusive, but pockets of growth remain. Smaller industry categories recorded strong year-over-year growth, including venture capital and private equity (+47%), capital markets (+26%), computer and network security (+19%), and defense and space (+13%). The data points to continued hiring in targeted capabilities even as more general demand contracts.

As global hiring becomes increasingly selective, India’s relatively modest 5% year-on-year decline in job postings highlights its resilience compared with several major markets. Bain & Company’s analysis also points to a shifting demand landscape, with AI-related job postings rising 60% globally year on year in Q2 2026, even as hiring across several traditional functions remained under pressure. The findings underscore how hiring demand is becoming more concentrated in specific capabilities, making it increasingly important for organisations to align their talent strategies with evolving business and skills requirements.