At a time when bad news has been following one another thick and fast both on the economic front for countries at large, the biggest threat for the individual has come in terms of being able to retain her job in such trying times.

Companies have reduced their hiring expectations substantially in the wake of uncertainties looming over the world hit hard by double-digit inflation and crippling oil prices, published media reports suggested.

Staffing company Teamlease was quoted by CNBC-TV18 to say that hiring intention in telecom and financial services saw a further decline while retail, media and FMCG continued to hire at the pace it set over the last quarter.

The silver lining, according to CNBC-TV18, is that things are not half as bad for the BPO and ITeS sectors. In fact, the article quotes Teamlease Services VP Sampath Shetty as saying that the US recession could actually benefit the ITeS in terms of more outsourcing deals in the months ahead.

The report said that Bangalore, New Delhi, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad are likely to hire more staff than they did in the previous quarter in view of the fact that these cities are already equipped with adequate and more infrastructure and ITeS projects already.

However, the report predicts that Chennai, Mumbai, Pune and Kolkata may not be as lucky as most of the projects there are already staffed optimally.

A sectoral analysis of the industries shows that hiring would be higher this quarter in the IT and ITeS segments while it would be lower for Financial Services and Telecom. The retail, FMCG and media firms will be stable during this period while manufacturing and infrastructure could edge up a little.