Net payroll additions under the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) dipped marginally by 2.6% to 14.86 lakh members in January this year, as against 15.29 lakh members in the same period last year, according to the latest data released by the Ministry of Labour and Employment. In December last year, EPFO added 14.93 lakh net members.
EPFO is a social security organisation responsible for providing social security benefits in the form of Provident, Pension and Insurance Funds to the organized workforce of the country covered under the provisions of the Employees’ Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952. EPFO is calculated on a monthly basis. Aadhaar-validated Universal Account Number (UAN), existing members exiting from coverage of EPFO and those who exited but re-joining as members are some of the factors that are considered to arrive at the net monthly payroll.
Out of 14.86 lakh members added during the month, around 7.77 lakh new members have come under the ambit of EPFO for the first time, thus witnessing a decline of 9.9% as against 8.64 lakh new members in the same period last year.
Among the newly joined members, the highest enrolment is registered in the age group of 18-21 years with 2.26 lakh members, followed by the age-group of 22-25 years with 2.06 lakh members. The age-groups of 18-25 years constitutes 55.52% of total of new members during the month thus indicating that the majority of the members are first-time job seekers joining organised sector workforce of the country.
During the month, only 3.54 lakh members exited the fold of EPFO. As per the government, this is the lowest exit in the last four months. In January as many as 10.62 lakh members rejoined EPFO membership by switching their jobs and rejoining the establishments covered under EPFO and opted to transfer their accumulations instead of applying for final settlement thus extending their social security protection.
In terms of gender-wise employment, as many as 2.87 lakh female members were added under EPFO in January, of which around 1.97 lakh female members are the new joinees. With this, as many as 68.61% of the net female members have come under the fold of EPFO for the first time. In January last year, as many as 3.02 lakh female members were added under EPFO.
In terms of state-wise employment, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Delhi emerged as the states that registered the highest number of net members under EPFO. These states collectively added 58.85% of net member addition during the month.“Of all the states, Maharashtra is leading by adding 22.73% of overall member addition followed by the state of Karnataka with 10.58% during the month,” the government said.
In terms of industry-wise employment, expert services that consist of manpower suppliers, normal contractors, security services and miscellaneous activities constitute 40.64% of total member addition during the month. Apart from this, automobile servicing, banks other than nationalized banks, restaurants and tea plantations amongst others, are also some sectors that witnessed an upsurge in the net addition of members under EPFO, as per the government.
