The data released by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) for the month of August suggests that 14.81 lakh new subscribers were added in the month, as per a statement released by the Labour Ministry.
As compared to the data for July, there has been a 12.61 per cent increase in the subscribers with 9.19 lakh subscribers out of 14.81 lakh coming under the social-security ambit for the very first time.
The EPFO data shows that this time, several first-time job seekers have entered the Indian workforce. In the age-wise distribution of data, 4.03 lakh subscribers who were added to the EPFO came within the age bracket of 22-25, and 3.25 lakh people who were added were between the age of 18 and 21. If we look at the entire addition of new subscribers, first-time job seekers constituted about 49.18 per cent of the entire new subscribers list at EPFO.
The data also shows that 5.62 lakh people exited EPFO, but rejoined transferring their funds from their previous jobs to the current PF account.
The data also reveals that states such as Maharashtra, Haryana, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka generated the maximum number of subscribers, that is, about 8.95 lakh, which is about 60.45 per cent of the overall net addition to the subscribers’ list.
Amongst the total net addition of subscribers for the month of August, 20 per cent were women. The addition of women subscribers has increased by 10.18 per cent, as compared to the previous month’s data.
Industry-wise payroll data indicates that the ‘expert services’ category (consisting of manpower agencies, private security agencies, small contractors and so on) constituted 39.91 per cent of the total subscribers added during the month.
Additionally, a growth trend in net payroll additions has been noted in industries such as trading-commercial establishments, engineering products, building and construction, textiles, garment making, hospitals and financing establishments.
