Employees Provident Fund Organisation adds 15.29 lakh net subscribers in January 2022

Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), added 15.29 lakh net subscribers during January 2022, up from 12.60 lakh in December 2021, according to the latest payroll data.

“The provisional payroll data of EPFO has been released today, i.e., 20th March 2022, which highlights that EPFO has added 15.29 lakh net subscribers during January 2022,” a labour ministry statement said on Sunday.

Month-on-month comparison of payroll data also indicates an increase of 2.69 lakh net subscribers addition in January, 2022 as compared to the net additions during the previous month of December, 2021.

Of the total 15.29 lakh net subscribers added during the month, around 8.64 lakh new members have been registered under the social security ambit of EPF & MP Act, 1952 for the first time.

Approximately 6.65 lakh net subscribers exited but re-joined EPFO by continuing their membership with EPFO instead of opting for final withdrawal. The payroll data also reflects a declining trend in the number of members exited since July, 2021.

According to the statement, age-wise comparison of payroll data shows that the age-group of 18-25 years has registered the highest number of net enrolments with 6.90 lakh additions during January 2022, which is around 45.11% of total net subscribers addition during the month. This is followed by the age-group of 29-35 years with a healthy addition of around 3.23 lakh net enrolments. This indicates that many first-time job seekers are joining organised sector workforce in large numbers and signifies a crucial stage for an individual’s potential in terms of earning capacity.

State-wise comparison of payroll figures highlights that the establishments covered in the states of Maharashtra, Haryana, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are in lead by adding approximately 9.33 lakh subscribers during the month, which is around 61% of total net payroll addition across all age groups.

Gender-wise analysis indicates that net female payroll addition during the month is approximately 3.20 lakh during the month. Share of female enrolment is approximately 21% of the total net subscribers addition during the month of January, 2022 with an increase of 57,722 net enrolments over the previous month of December, 2021.

Industry-wise payroll data indicates that ‘expert services’ category (consisting of manpower agencies, private security agencies and small contractors etc.) constitutes 39.95% of total subscriber addition during the month. In addition, growing trend in net payroll additions has been noted in industries like Expert Services, Engineering Contractors, Trading (Commercial Establishments) and Building & Construction industry etc.