Payroll Data: EPFO adds 15.62 lakh net members in December 2023

Retirement fund body Employees' Provident Fund Organisation has added 15.62 lakh net members to the employment payroll in December 2023, which is the highest in the last three months. This is an 11.97 per cent increase in the net addition during the current month as compared to the previous month of November 2023. In November 2023, EPFO added 13.95 lakh net members.

The year-on-year analysis revealed a growth of 4.62 per cent in net member additions compared to December 2022. 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.

“This 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 Labour Ministry said.

The payroll data highlighted that approximately 12.02 lakh members exited and subsequently rejoined EPFO. This figure represents a significant 12.61 per cent increase compared to the previous month of November 2023 and stands as the highest recorded in the past five months.

This figure marks the highest recorded addition of female workforce in the last three months. The comparison with the previous month of November 2023 shows an increase of 7.57 per cent. Also, the net female member addition during the month stood at around 2.90 lakh reflecting an increase of approximately 3.54 per cent compared to the previous month of November 2023.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% of net member addition, adding a total of 9.11 lakh net members during the month. Of all the states, Maharashtra is leading by adding 21.63% of 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. Of the total net membership, around 40.66% addition is from expert services (consisting of manpower suppliers, normal contractors, security services, miscellaneous activities etc.).

Last week, the Labour Ministry said that the formal job creation under the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) went up by 18.2 per cent month-on-month to 1.88 million in December 2023 compared to 1.59 million new employees added to it in November.

As per the data, ESIC added 1.78 million subscribers in April, 2.02 million subscribers each in May and June, 1.98 million in July, 1.94 million in August, 1.88 million in September and 1.78 million in October.

As per the provisional payroll data of ESIC, around 23,347 new establishments have been registered and brought under the social security umbrella of Employees’ State Insurance Corporation in December 2023, thus ensuring more coverage. This is higher than 20,830 new establishments added to ESIC in preceding month.

The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation is one of the two main statutory social security organisations under the ministry of labour and the employment, the other being the EPFO.

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