Retirement fund body EPFO added 16.26 lakh subscribers on a net basis in November 2022, up 16.5 per cent from a year ago, the labor ministry said on Friday. The provisional payroll data of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) released by the ministry on Friday states that the EPFO has added 16.26 lakh net members in the month of November 2022.
A labor ministry statement said the data indicates a 25.67 per cent increase in net additions in October 2022 as compared to the previous month. Out of the total 16.26 lakh members added during the month, around 8.99 lakh new members came under the fold of EPFO for the first time, indicating that the number of new members joining EPFO increased from 7.28 lakh in October 2022 to 1.71 lakh Is.
Among new members, the highest enrollment is registered in the age-group of 18-21 years with 2.77 lakh members, followed by the age-group of 22-25 years with 2.32 lakh members. The age group of 18-25 years constituted 56.60 per cent of the total new members during the month. This shows that for the first time job seekers are joining the organized sector workforce of the country in a big way.
The data also revealed that around 11.21 lakh members re-joined the EPFO membership. These members changed their jobs and re-joined establishments covered under EPFO and opted to transfer their accumulations instead of applying for final settlement, thus expanding their social security cover. The labor ministry also released the Employees’ State Insurance Scheme (ESI Scheme) provisional payroll data for November 2022 on Friday.
The data showed that 18.86 lakh new employees have been added in November 2022. A year-on-year comparison of payroll data shows an increase of 5.24 lakh in net membership in November 2022 as compared to the same month in 2021. As per the data, around 21,953 new establishments have been registered in the month of November 2022 to ensure social security coverage to their employees under the Employees State Insurance Corporation.
Out of the total 18.86 lakh employees added during the month, the age group with the highest registration was 18-25 years with 8.78 lakh employees. Gender-wise analysis of ESIS payroll data shows that net enrollment of female members in November 2022 stood at 3.51 lakh. Data shows that a total of 63 transgender employees have also registered under the ESI scheme in the month of November.
Gender-wise analysis of EPFO payroll data shows that net enrollment of female members in November 2022 stood at 3.19 lakh. The net female member addition has increased by about 0.56 lakh from 2.63 lakh in October 2022 as compared to the previous month. The year-on-year comparison of enrollment data shows an increase of 7.90 per cent in the net membership of women in the organized workforce in November 2022 as compared to the net female membership during the previous year in November 2021.
State-wise payroll data shows that the month-on-month increase in the number of net members is reflected in the states of Gujarat, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. These states together added 58.23 per cent of the total net membership during the month. Among all the states, Maharashtra leads the way adding 20 per cent to the total member addition during the month, followed by the state of Tamil Nadu with 10.91 per cent.
Classification of industry-wise payroll data indicates that ‘specialist services’ (consisting of manpower suppliers, general contractors, security services, miscellaneous activities, etc.) constituted 40 per cent of the total member growth during the month. On comparing the industry-wise data with the previous month, ‘Automobile Servicing’, ‘Building & Construction Industry’, ‘Engineer-Eng. Contractor’, ‘Financing Establishment’, ‘Hospital’ etc.
Payroll data is provisional because data generation is a continuous process, as is updating employee records. The previous data is therefore updated every month. In the monthly payroll data, net monthly calculation of members joining EPFO for the first time through Aadhaar valid Universal Account Number (UAN), existing members exiting the coverage of EPFO and members re-joining as members is taken for calculation. Payroll, it said.
EPFO is the premier organization in India responsible for social security coverage to the organized sector workforce covered under the Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952.
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