The provisional payroll data of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) that was released highlights that EPFO has added 16.26 lakh net members in November 2022.
The data indicates an increase of 25.67% in net additions compared to the previous month in October 2022. A year-on-year comparison of payroll data reflects an increase of 16.50% in net membership addition in November 2022 as compared to the corresponding month during last year in 2021.
Of the total 16.26 lakh members added during the month, around 8.99 lakh new members have come under the ambit of EPFO for the first time thus, showing that new members joining EPFO have increased by 1.71 lakhs, from 7.28 lakh in October 2022.
Among the new members, the highest enrolment is registered in the age group of 18-21 years with 2.77 lakh members, followed by the age group of 22-25 years with 2.32 lakh members.
The age groups of 18-25 years constitute 56.60% of the total of new members during the month. This shows that first-time job seekers are largely joining the organised sector workforce of the country.
The data also highlights that approximately 11.21 lakh members re-joined EPFO membership. These members switched their jobs and re-joined the establishments covered under EPFO and opted to transfer their accumulations instead of applying for final settlement thus, extending their social security protection.
Gender-wise analysis of payroll data indicates that the enrolment of net female members has been 3.19 lakh in November 2022.
As compared to the previous month net female member addition has increased by around 0.56 lakh from 2.63 lakh in October 2022. A year-on-year comparison of enrolment data shows a growth of 7.90% in net membership of females in the organised workforce, in November 2022 compared with the net female membership during the previous year in November 2021.
State-wise payroll figures highlight that the month-on-month growing trend in net member addition is reflected in the states of Gujarat, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra & Rajasthan. These states together add 58.23% of total net membership during the month. Of all the states, Maharashtra is leading by adding 20% of overall member addition followed by the state of Tamil Nadu with 10.91% during the month.
The classification of industry-wise payroll data indicates that ‘Expert Services’ (consisting of manpower suppliers, normal contractors, security services, miscellaneous activities, etc.) constitute 40% of total member addition during the month.
Comparing industry-wise data with that of the previous month, higher enrolments have been noticed in industries namely, ‘automobile servicing’, ‘building and construction industry’, ‘and engineers- engg. contractors’, ‘financing establishment’, ‘hospitals’, etc.
The 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 from 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.
EPFO is India’s principal organisation responsible for social security coverage to the organised sector workforce covered under the purview of the Employees’ Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952.
