In November 2022, EPFO will add 16.26 lakh net subscribers

EPFO, the retirement fund agency, added 16.26 lakh net subscribers in November 2022, a 16.5 percent increase over the previous year, the labour ministry announced on Friday.

The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) added 16.26 lakh net members in November 2022, according to provisional payroll data issued by the ministry on Friday.

According to a labour ministry release, the results show a 25.67% rise in net additions compared to the previous month in October 2022. Of the total 16.26 lakh members gained during the month, about 8.99 lakh new members joined EPFO for the first time, indicating that the number of new members entering EPFO has increased by 1.71 lakh, from 7.28 lakh in October 2022.

The age range of 18-21 years has the greatest enrolment with 2.77 lakh members, followed by the age group of 22-25 years with 2.32 lakh members.

The 18-25 age group accounts for 56.60 percent of all new members during the month. This demonstrates that first-time job searchers are primarily joining the country's organised sector employment.

The report also revealed that around 11.21 lakh EPFO members re-joined the organisation.

These members changed occupations and re-joined EPFO-covered establishments, opting to transfer their accumulations rather than seek for final settlement, thereby extending their social security protection. On Friday, the labour ministry also issued provisional payroll statistics for the Employees' State Insurance Scheme (ESI Scheme) for November 2022. According to data, 18.86 lakh new employees were hired in November 2022. A year-on-year comparison of payroll data shows a 5.24 lakh rise in net membership in November 2022 compared to the same month in 2021.

According to data, about 21,953 new establishments have been registered under the Employees' State Insurance Corporation in the month of November 2022, ensuring social security coverage to their employees.

The age group with the highest registration was 18-25 years, with 8.78 lakh employees, out of the total 18.86 lakh employees added during the month. According to a gender analysis of ESIS payroll data, the enrolment of net female members in November 2022 was 3.51 lakh.

According to the data, a total of 63 transgender employees registered under the ESI Scheme in November.

According to a gender study of EPFO payroll statistics, the net female membership in November 2022 was 3.19 lakh.

In October 2022, net female member addition increased by roughly 0.56 lakh from 2.63 lakh in the previous month.

A year-on-year comparison of enrolment statistics shows a 7.90% increase in net female participation in the organised workforce in November 2022 compared to the prior year's net female membership in November 2021.

Payroll numbers by state show a month-on-month increase in net member additions in Gujarat, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan.

During the month, these states account for 58.23% of total net membership. Of all the states, Maharashtra leads the way with 20% of total member additions for the month, followed by Tamil Nadu with 10.91%.

According to the classification of payroll data by industry, 'Expert Services' (consisting of manpower suppliers, normal contractors, security services, miscellaneous activities, and so on) account for 40% of total member increase during the month. Higher enrollments have been observed in businesses such as 'automobile servicing,' 'building and construction industry,' 'engineers-engg. contractors,' 'finance establishments,' 'hospitals,' and so on, as compared to the previous month's data.

The payroll data is tentative because data generation is a continual process, much as updating personnel records is. As a result, past data is updated once a month. It claimed that in monthly payroll data, the count of members entering EPFO for the first time via Aadhaar validated Universal Account Number (UAN), current members quitting EPFO coverage, and those who exited but re-joined as members is used to calculate net monthly payroll.

The EPFO is India's primary organisation in charge of providing social security coverage to the organised sector workforce covered by the Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act of 1952