Online jobs may just be the way ahead for laid off techies

The Indian IT sector has been grappling with the economic slowdown and reports of layoffs have been trickling in over the last few weeks. While it is a tough time for techies, many of who are said to anxious and battling depression, here's what looks like some relief. Online jobs are a big thing in India right now and could be the way ahead for those who have been laid off.

In fact, India is the largest supplier of online jobs in the world with numerous freelancers taking up tasks and over half of it is in the field of software development and technology, according to a research conducted by Oxford Internet Institute.

"The largest overall supplier of online labour according to the data is the traditional outsourcing destination India, which is home to 24 percent of the workers observed," the research said. India is followed by Bangladesh at 16 percent and the United States at 12 percent.

While the software and technology jobs were the most sought after, it was followed by creative and multimedia services, and sales and marketing support. Software and technology jobs are dominated by the Indian subcontinent, whereas UK led the way when it came to professional services such as business consulting, accounting and legal services.

For the research, the OII analysed data from four online platforms - Fiverr, Freelancer, Guru, and PeoplePerHour – and said that they "represent at least 40 percent of the global market for platform-based online work."

The research comes at a time when reported mass layoffs have been kicking up quite a storm in the country. Job portals are said to be flooded with resumes of people seeking IT jobs and consultancies too have their hands full with people applying for these jobs.

Those retrenched seem to be opting for portals like Naukri, Monster and Indeed to find jobs.

"The suddenness of the present job crisis in the IT industry has really hit those who have been retrenched. With most companies not being prepared for the automation wave or lacking concrete plans to reskill the impacted employees, most of them will soon be flooding the job market," Money Control quoted Ajay Kolla, founder and CEO of Wisdomjobs.

In just four months – January to April -- Naukri.com saw a 27 percent jump in job applicants from the IT industry compared to the same period last year, according to LiveMint. CareerBuilder calculated an 11.5 percent hike; whereas iimjobs.com saw a 12.4 percent increase. Meanwhile, Monster.com saw a huge jump in IT job applicants – about 60-65 percent in just a month.

However, it cannot be confirmed that all the applicants lost their jobs during the wave of layoffs – some of them could be just starting out and others could be looking for a change.