New Delhi, Feb 20 (IANS) EPFO’s data released on Tuesday highlighted that 15.62 lakh net members have been added to the employment payroll in December, 2023 which is highest in the last three months. There has been an increase of 11.97 per cent in the net EPFO member addition during the month as compared to November. Further, the year on year analysis reveals a growth of 4.62 per cent in net member additions compared to December 2022.
The surge in membership can be attributed to various factors, including increased employment opportunities, a growing awareness of employee benefits, and the effectiveness of EPFO’s outreach programs. The data indicates that around 8.41 lakh new members have enrolled during December, 2023 which is highest during the previous three months.
A noticeable aspect of the data is the dominance of the 18-25 age group, constituting a significant 57.18 per cent of the total new members added in December. This statistic underscores a notable trend – the majority of individuals joining the organised workforce are youth, primarily first-time job seekers.
The payroll data highlights that approximately 12.02 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.
Gender-wise analysis of payroll data unveils that out of 8.41 lakh new members, around 2.09 lakh are new female members. This figure marks the highest recorded addition of female workforce in the last three months. The surge in female member additions is indicative of a broader shift towards a more inclusive and diverse workforce.
State-wise analysis of payroll data denotes that net member addition is highest in the 5 states/ UTs of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Haryana. These states constitute around 58.33 per cent of net member addition, adding a total of 9.11 lakh net members during the month.
Month-on-month comparison of industry-wise data displays significant growth in the members working in establishments engaged in the industries viz. Iron and Steel, Building & construction, General Insurance etc. The payroll data is provisional as updating employee records is a continuous process. The previous data hence gets updated every month.
