New Delhi [India], April 20 : Employees' Provident Fund Organisation's (EPFO) provisional payroll data highlighted the addition of 15.48 lakh net members in the month of February, 2024, according to a release issued by the Labour Ministry on Saturday.
The data indicated that around 7.78 lakh new members were enrolled during February, 2024. A noticeable aspect of the data is the dominance of the 18-25 age group, constituting a significant 56.36 per cent of the total new members added in February 2024, indicating the majority of individuals joining the organised workforce are youth, primarily first-time job seekers.
The payroll data highlighted that approximately 11.78 lakh members exited and subsequently rejoined EPFO. These members switched jobs, re-joined the establishments covered under the ambit of EPFO and opted to transfer their accumulations instead of applying for final settlement, thus safeguarding long-term financial well-being and extending their social security protection.
As per the release, gender-wise analysis of payroll data also revealed that out of 7.78 lakh new members, around 2.05 lakh are new female members. Also, the net female member addition during the month stood at around 3.08 lakh. The female member addition is indicative of a broader shift towards a more inclusive and diverse workforce.
Month-on-month comparison of industry-wise data displays growth in the number of members working in establishments engaged in the industries, viz., establishments engaged in manufacture, marketing servicing & usage of computers, companies, societies, associations, clubs, troupes for performances, road motor transport, automobile servicing, textiles, etc. Of the total net membership, around 41.53 per cent addition is from expert services (consisting of manpower suppliers, normal contractors, security services, miscellaneous activities, etc.), the release mentioned.
The release stated that the payroll data released today is provisional since data generation is a continuous exercise and updating employee records is a continuous process, adding that the previous data gets updated every month.
Since April 2018, EPFO has been releasing payroll data covering the period from September, 2017 onwards. In monthly payroll data, the count of members joining EPFO for the first time through Aadhaar validated Universal Account Number (UAN), existing members exiting from coverage of EPFO and those who exited but are re-joining as members, is taken to arrive at net monthly payroll, the release added.