Retirement fund body EPFO added 13.95 lakh net members in November 2023, as per the latest payroll data released on Saturday. Cumulative net addition of members during the current financial year continues to remain higher than that of the corresponding period of the previous year, a labour ministry statement said.
According to the statement, the EPFO’s (Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation) provisional payroll data highlighted that the body added 13.95 lakh net members in November. The data indicates that around 7.36 lakh new members were enrolled during the month. The 18-25 age-group constitutes 57.30 per cent of the total new members added during the month, showing that a majority of members joining the organised sector workforce of the country are youth, who are mostly first-time job seekers.
The payroll data reflects that about 10.67 lakh members exited but rejoined EPFO during the month. In fact, these members switched jobs and rejoined the establishments covered under the ambit of EPFO, and opted to transfer their accumulations instead of applying for final settlement, thereby extending their social security protection, it stated. A gender-wise analysis of payroll data showed that of the 7.36 lakh new members added, around 1.94 lakh are new female members joined EPFO for the first time, it stated.
Total female members addition during the month stood at around 2.80 lakh. Percentage of net female members of net subscriber addition stood at 20.05 per cent — the highest since September 2023 — showing a growing participation of female employees in the organised sector workforce. State-wise analysis of payroll data denotes that net member addition is highest in the five states/Union Territories of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Haryana, and Delhi.
These constitute around 58.81 per cent of net member addition, with 8.20 lakh members during the month. Of all states, Maharashtra led with 21.60 per cent net members additions. Month-on-month comparison of industry-wise data displays significant growth in the members working in establishments engaged in agriculture farms, coffee plantations, sugar, rubber plantations, tiles. Of the total net membership, around 41.94 per cent addition is from expert services — consisting of manpower suppliers, normal contractors, security services, and miscellaneous activities.
The above payroll data is provisional since data generation is a continuous exercise, as updating employee record is a continuous process. From April 2018, the EPFO has been releasing payroll data covering the period September 2017 onwards. In monthly payroll data, the number of members joining EPFO for the first time through Aadhaar-validated Universal Account Number (UAN), existing members exiting from the coverage of EPFO and those who exited but rejoined as members, is taken to arrive at net monthly payroll, it stated.
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