India emerges as third-largest cross-border hiring pool: Report

India has become the world’s third-largest cross-border hiring pool and accounts for 7.2 per cent of global AI trainers, according to Deel’s latest report. The country now ranks second only to the United States in talent contribution, surpassing the Philippines and Canada.

New Delhi: India ranks as the third-largest cross-border hiring pool globally and accounts for 7.2 per cent of the world’s AI trainers, underscoring the country’s growing role in the global digital workforce, according to a report released on Thursday.

According to an analysis by Deel, the country has emerged as a key contributor to this workforce, making it the second-largest talent base after the United States, and ahead of countries such as the Philippines and Canada.

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The report also highlighted major shifts in the global labour market, including the emergence of AI training as a new profession, growing international hiring by startups for specialised skills, and a gradual return of remote workers to major cities.

The country also features among the top four residential locations for Employees of Record (EOR), typically full-time international hires, behind Canada, the UK and Spain, it said.

Moreover, demand for India-based professionals is rising across several major hiring corridors.

Inbound EOR hiring into India grew 24 per cent from the United States, about 64 per cent from the United Kingdom, and 61.5 per cent from Australia year-on-year, with software development, testing and user interface roles among the most common positions.

The report also pointed out notable trend in the report is the rapid rise of AI trainers, a profession that has expanded sharply as companies develop and refine artificial intelligence models.

“Over 70,000 workers now train AI systems across more than 600 organizations, performing tasks from basic data annotation to expert-level feedback in medicine, economics, and translation,” according to the report.

The report also noted that compensation varies significantly depending on the complexity of work.

While many AI trainers globally earn $15–20 per hour for basic annotation tasks, subject-matter experts can earn $50–$100 per hour or more.

In India, the median pay for AI trainers stands at around $12 per hour, reflecting differences in global labour markets.