EPFO adds 18.36 lakh net members in June

NEW DELHI: The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) added 18.36 lakh net members in the month of June, which is 9.21 per cent higher when compared with the previous month, as per the official data released on Saturday. Year-on-year comparison of payroll data reflects that June 2022 has registered an increase of 5.53 lakh in terms of net member addition comparing the corresponding month during last year in 2021.

Out of the total 18.36 lakh members added during the month, around 10.54 lakh new members have been covered under EPF & MP Act, 1952 for the first time. New members joining has shown a growing trend since April, 2022. Approximately 7.82 lakh net members exited but rejoined EPFO by changing their jobs within the establishments covered by EPFO and opted to transfer their funds from the previous PF account to the current account instead of applying for final PF withdrawal. The new enrolment during the month is higher than the monthly average recorded during the last fiscal, as per data released by the Ministry of Labour & Employment.

Age-wise comparison of payroll data indicates that the age-group of 22-25 years has registered the highest number of net enrolments with 4.72 lakh additions during June 2022. This shows that many first-time job seekers are joining organised sector workforce in large numbers. State-wise comparison of payroll figures highlights that the establishments covered in the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Gujarat and Delhi continue to remain in lead by adding approximately 12.61 lakh net members during the month, which is 68.66 per cent of total net payroll addition across all age groups.

Gender-wise analysis indicates that enrollment of net female members has increased to 4.06 lakh in the current month from 3.43 lakh during last month, registering an increase of 18.37 per cent. It is also observed that participation of female workforce in organised sector has been the highest in last 12 months. Accordingly, the percentage share of net female member addition has increased from 20.37 per cent in May 2022 to 22.09 per cent in the month of June 2022. The classification of industry-wise payroll data indicates that mainly two categories i.e. 'expert services' (consisting of manpower agencies, private security agencies and small contractors etc.) and 'Trading-Commercial establishments' constitute 47.63 per cent of total member addition during the month. Comparing industry-wise data with that of the previous month, higher enrollments have been noticed in industries namely, 'Schools', 'Garments making', 'Expert services' & 'Textile' etc.

The payroll data is provisional since the data generation is a continuous exercise, as updation of employee records is a continuous process. The previous data hence gets updated every month. From the month of April 2018, EPFO has been releasing payroll data covering the period September 2017 onwards. EPFO's payroll is a part of the organized sector workforce for those establishments which are covered under the provisions of Employees' Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952. It is a social security organization, which provides provident fund, pension benefits to the members on their retirement and family pension & insurance benefits to their families in case of untimely death of the member.