In a positive sign for the country’s formal jobs market, EPFO’s provisional payroll data for February 2024 showed that over 56% of the overall new members enrolled were first-time job seekers in the age group of 18-25, official data released on Saturday showed.
EPFO adds 15.48 lakh net members in Feb
Overall, the Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) added 15.48 lakh net members during the month against 16 lakh in January 2024, a drop of 3.4%.
It should be noted that net monthly payroll numbers are provisional and get revised often the very next month. Due to this, new EPF subscriber numbers are perceived as more reliable than net jobs added.
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New monthly subscribers in Feb
The EPFO saw a 3.7% fall in new monthly subscribers’ addition in February to EPF at 7.77 lakh from 8.07 lakh in January 2024.
“The data indicates that around 7.78 lakh new members have been enrolled during February, 2024. A noticeable aspect of the data is the dominance of the 18-25 age group, constituting a significant 56.36% of the total new members added in February 2024 indicating the majority of individuals joining the organized workforce are youth, primarily first-time job seekers,” the release said.
The payroll data highlights that approximately 11.78 lakh members exited and subsequently rejoined EPFO.
These members switched their jobs and re-joined the establishments covered under the ambit of EPFO and opted to transfer their accumulations instead of applying for final settlement thus, safeguarding long-term financial well-being and extending their social security protection.
Over 2 lakh new female members join EPFO
Gender-wise analysis of payroll data unveils that out of 7.78 lakh new members, around 2.05 lakh are new female members.
Also, the net female member addition during the month stood at around 3.08 lakh. The female member addition is indicative of a broader shift towards a more inclusive and diverse workforce.
Month-on-month comparison of industry-wise data displays growth in the members working in establishments engaged in the industries viz. establishments engaged in manufacture, marketing servicing.
The above payroll data is provisional since the data generation is a continuous exercise, as updating employee record is a continuous process. The previous data hence gets updated every month.
From the month of April-2018, EPFO has been releasing payroll data covering the period September, 2017 onwards. In monthly payroll data, the count of members joining EPFO for the first time through Aadhaar validated Universal Account Number (UAN), existing members exiting from coverage of EPFO and those who exited but re-joining as members, is taken to arrive at net monthly payroll.
Omprakash Tiwary is a business writer who delves into the intricacies of the corporate world. With a focus on finance and economic landscape. He offers readers valuable insights into market trends, entrepreneurship, and economic developments.
