EPFO Sees Record High 985,000 New Subscribers Enroll In May, Women Make Up 25 Per Cent Of Additions

The latest monthly payroll data by the EPFO stated that the number of new subscribers in the month under the EPF (Employees’ Provident Fund) rose to 985,000, against 887,000 users logged in April

Fresh formal employment generation rose to touch a ten-month peak in May, official payroll data released by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Saturday showed. This indicated that the domestic formal labour market is starting to show signs of recovery. 

The latest monthly payroll data released by the EPFO stated that the number of new subscribers in the month under the EPF (Employees’ Provident Fund) rose to 985,000, against 887,000 users logged in April. This reflected an increase of almost 11 per cent on a sequential basis, reported Business Standard.

From the overall 985,000 additions to the EPF in May, majority of the individuals belonged to a younger age group. The data showed that 58.4 per cent of the users, coming up to 574,000, belonged from the 18-25 age group. This indicated that these young users were typically joining the labour market for the first time, in turn, highlighting the robustness of the same.

Notably, last year in July, EPFO said that 1.09 million employees in the formal workforce enrolled under the EPF scheme. The EPFO data is crucial to understand the formal workforce. It should be noted that only the formal labour force gets to redeem social security benefits and is protected by labour laws in the country. 

The net payroll additions rose to 1.95 million in May, the data showed. The net payroll additions is understood by considering the number of new subscribers, the users that exited, and the old subscribers that have returned to the EPF scheme. 

Women accounted for a little over 25 per cent of the additions in the labour force at 248,000 during the month under review. 

Issuing a statement, the Labour Ministry said that the addition to the payroll during May remained the highest seen since the introduction of the payroll data earlier in April 2018. The ministry explained that this escalation in the scheme membership was due to several factors such as a rise in awareness of employee benefits, the result of the outreach programmes conducted by the EPFO, and the boost in employment opportunities.