New Delhi, April 7 -- Workers are retreating to the safety of their hometowns, as the ongoing West Asia war has triggered a cooking gas supply crunch, spiking the cost of living. Staffing firms have reported a 10-15% rise in hiring costs over a month, while hiring agents are closely tracking labour demand trends in the consumer, banking and construction industries.

"We do blue-collar hiring, mainly in the manufacturing and supply chain sectors, and there, the costs of getting workforce in the metros has gone up by about 15-20% in a month," said Neeti Sharma, chief executive officer of TeamLease Digital, part of the staffing firm TeamLease Group.

Scarcity of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has forced construction and manufacturing sectors'...