‘Festive season to create more jobs for gig workers’:Tier-II Tier-III towns to drive nearly 50% of hiring

Temporary staffing demand this festive season is expected to generate 2.5-2.7 lakh jobs, led by e-commerce, logistics, quick commerce, organised retail and BFSI sectors, Talent company Adecco’s report said on Monday, according to news agency, PTI. Talent company Adecco India expects temporary and gig hiring for the 2026 festive season to grow 15-20% year-on-year, building on last year’s strong base of an estimated 2.16 lakh jobs created across the organised sector. This year’s festive season is seeing hiring intent remain resilient despite a more complex global business environment. While domestic consumption continues to support demand across retail, e-commerce, logistics and other consumer-facing sectors, employers are also planning more cautiously amid geopolitical developments, energy price volatility, evolving global trade dynamics and continued uncertainty across export-oriented industries. -Adecco India Director and Head of General Staffing Deepesh Gupta Tier – II towns to create nearly half of jobs Further, the report revealed that around 45% of workforce demand this year will be from tier II and tier III cities such as Lucknow, Bhubaneswar, Jaipur and Coimbatore, supported by expanding e-commerce reach, organised retail growth and rising consumption in these markets. At the same time, tier I cities, including Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, are witnessing the sharpest talent crunch at 30%, with higher workforce mobility and a growing preference for gig work making sourcing and retention more challenging, the report added.
Temporary wages are also expected to rise by 12-15% in metro markets and 8-10% across tier II and tier III regions.
On the profiles driving demand, the report found that this year’s hiring is less about new job categories and more about scaling up critical operational roles.
Retail sales associates, customer support representatives, field sales executives, merchandisers, and manufacturing operators remain central to in-store and BFSI-linked hiring, as businesses invest in faster fulfilment and a better customer experience, as per the report.
Employers are increasingly seeking multilingual candidates fluent in Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Marathi, who are digitally proficient and comfortable in customer-facing and operational roles. Skills such as adaptability, digital literacy, and strong communication are becoming key differentiators in hiring across retail, logistics, BFSI and e-commerce.
Despite this strong hiring outlook, talent availability remains a challenge with around 80 per cent of employers experiencing shortages across frontline and operational roles this festive season.
Adecco estimates a 10-15% demand-supply gap during the peak hiring period.
Nearly 25% of seasonal associates are expected to transition into longer-term assignments, reflecting the growing role of festive employment as an entry point into India s organised workforce, the report added.
The Adecco India report, based on inputs from over 100 clients of the company, is supplemented with credible market research sources.