The gender-gap in employability is being bridged by the use of digital technologies in India and the next boom in the employment market will be coming from the technology-led services that have been able to re-shape themselves during the pandemic, a new report has revealed.

According to India Skills Report 2021 on the talent demand and supply in post-COVID India by Wheebox, around 45.9 per cent of the youth in the country are “highly employable resources” with Delhi-NCR, Orissa, and Uttar Pradesh having the highest pool of employable talent in the country.

The employability of women stands at 46.8 per cent as compared to 45.91 percent of men. “Considering the population of qualified and employable human resources in India being women, Indian employers are expected to make reforms in existing infrastructure to accommodate this vast talent pool. By doing so, India can set a trend for every emerging economy to reverse the gender roles and create sustainable opportunities for the future of globalization and world commerce,” the report said.

Nirmal Singh, Founder, and CEO, Wheebox said, “Finally, the gender gap in employability is improving with the Indian digital revolution. One great structural change that we found is that women's participation is higher than in the previous five years. Women consist of 36 per cent of the workforce, while men comprise 64 per cent of all workers. The highest percentage of women in any sector was recorded in the Banking and Financial Services Industry (BFSI) making up to 46 per cent of the employable talent in this industry. The trend is one of the most positive ones for the future, especially with the work from home possibilities,” Singh pointed out.

The report, in partnership with Taggd, CII, AICTE, AIU, and UNDP, also found out that in terms of cities, Mumbai has the most “highly-employable resources”, followed by Hyderabad.

The India Skills Report uses a combination of an assessment of final-year candidates across India, who appeared for the Wheebox National Employability Test (WNET), and 150+ corporates across 15 industries who participated in the India Hiring Intent survey. The latest WNET was the eighth consecutive year that Wheebox assessed the employability landscape nationwide.

“India will be hiring most in the banking and financial sector along with IT and ITeS led businesses, closely followed by the Health Sector, Automotive, Retail Segment, Logistics and Core Sector including Energy. While digital connectivity and internet-based business will remain the most important base for hiring and expansion, the job markets will be led by states like Delhi-NCR, Karnataka, and Maharashtra,” the report said.

Additionally, companies across India have a hiring intent of 19 per cent, as compared to 10 per cent last year, reflecting positive changes in the job landscape this year, it added.

The report also pointed out the courses most in-demand in 2021 will be B.Tech and MBA with an employability score of 47 per cent with B.Com, BA, and B.Pharma candidates considered among the next set of highly employable resources.