The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) added around 16.8 lakh new subscribers in May, an increase of over 80 per cent as compared with the 9.2 lakh subscribers registered in May last year. “Out of the total 16.82 lakh subscribers added during the month, around 9.60 lakh new members have been covered under the ambit of EPF & MP Act, 1952, for the first time,” according to the labour ministry.
“EPFO has added 16.82 lakh net subscribers in the month of May, 2022. Year-on-year comparison of payroll data shows an increase of 7.62 lakh net subscribers in May, 2022 as compared to the net subscription in the month of May, 2021 last year,” the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
It added that about 7.21 lakh net subscribers exited but rejoined EPFO by changing their jobs within the establishments covered by the EPFO and opted to continue their membership under the EPF scheme, by transferring their funds instead of applying for final PF withdrawal. The new enrolment during the month is higher than the monthly average recorded during the last fiscal.
Age-wise, the age group of 22-25 years has registered the highest number of net enrolments with 4.33 lakh additions during May 2022. This shows that many first-time job seekers are joining organised sector workforce in large numbers, the ministry said.
“State-wise comparison of payroll figures highlights that the establishments covered in the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Gujarat and Delhi to remain in lead by adding approximately 11.34 lakh net subscribers during the month, which is 67.42% of total net payroll addition across all age groups,” it added.
On the basis of gender, the latest data suggests that net female payroll addition was about 3.42 lakh during May and the share of female enrolment was 20.39 per cent of the net subscriber addition during the month of May 2022.
The classification of industry-wise payroll data indicates that mainly two categories i.e. ‘expert services’ (consisting of manpower agencies, private security agencies and small contractors etc.) and ‘trading-commercial establishments’ constitute 50.51 per cent of the total subscriber addition during the month. Apart from this, a growing trend has been noted in other industries like ‘Building & Construction industry’, ‘Garments Making’, ‘Financing Establishment’, ‘Hotel’ and ‘Iron and Steel’ during the month.
The labour ministry, however, said, “The payroll data is provisional since the data generation is a continuous exercise, as updation of 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.”
The retirement fund body had added 17.08 lakh net new subscribers in April 2022, which was 34 per cent more than 12.76 lakh enrolled in April 2021. A year-on-year comparison of payroll data had showed an increase of 4.32 lakh net subscribers in April 2022 compared to the net subscription in the same month last year. Thus, the net new subscribers were 12.76 lakh in April 2021.
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