Online hiring has declined in the last year amid concerns about the economy, according to Monster Employment Index (MEI) which monitors online job posting activities in the country.

The overall contraction year-on-year in online hiring widened from -21 percent in August to -24 percent in September, it said.

"Across the nine industries monitored by the index, none of the sectors experienced any positive year-over-year growth.

"The retail sector saw the least decline in online recruitment activity at -3 percent, while the oil and gas sector saw the steepest decline for the third consecutive month, at -25 percent year-over-year," MEI said.

When broken down according to occupational group, only jobs in marketing and communication saw a year-on-year growth at one percent.

All other categories experienced a contraction in online hiring, with the worst hit being in software, hardware and telecom category at -35 percent, while the sales and business development category at -33 percent year-on-year.

“The overall decline in the labour market is likely due to the negative economic outlook globally.

"Despite this, demands for sales and marketing roles, as well as customer service roles, will remain high due to the high turnover rates in the respective sectors,” said Monster.com managing director (India, Middle East, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong) Sanjay Modi.