India’s formal labour market may be showing signs of cooling off in the second quarter of FY25, but a Moneycontrol analysis shows that women have done better than their male peers.
New enrollments to the government’s Employees’ Provident Fund scheme increased 5.5 percent for women in the second quarter of FY25, even as 1.6 percent fewer men joined in in this period, shows data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on November 25.
Further analysis shows that women’s share in new enrollments under the EPF rose to 27.4 percent from 26 percent in one year, although total enrollments in the EPF stayed flat year-on-year.
This trend did not apply only to high-paying jobs but also to less remunerative fields.
New subscriptions to Employees' State Insurance Corporation, which applies to smaller organisations and lower-paying jobs, climbed to 11.3 percent from 5.6 percent for women between the consecutive second quarters. Overall subscriptions were up 6.8 percent in Q2FY25.
The share of women in these jobs increased from 20.7 percent in Q2 of FY24 to 21.7 percent in the July-September period of the current fiscal year.
Gains were also evident in the first half of the year, when the share of women in new EPF subscriptions stood at 27.4 percent, compared with 26.2 percent in the first half of last fiscal.
Fewer jobless women in cities
Data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation last week indicated a similar trend. Urban unemployment, nearly half of which comprises salaried or regular wage jobs, declined much faster for women than men in the second quarter of the fiscal.
While female unemployment was down 0.6 percentage points in Q2FY25 to 8.4 percent from 9 percent in the previous quarter, male unemployment was down just 0.1 percentage point to 5.7 percent.
The decline in female unemployment rate was accompanied by more women entering the workforce during this period.
More jobs for the young
The job market seems to be shifting away from older and experienced workers as the share of the younger employees, aged below 21, in new enrollments climbed in FY25 from the last year's level.
In H1FY24, the below-21 age group had a 25.9 percent share of total EPF enrollment for women, which rose to 27.1 percent in H1FY25. Similarly, in the case of ESIC, the share of the below 21 age group in jobs went up to 19.2 percent in H1FY25 from 18.4 percent in H1FY24.
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