New EPFO Subscribers Lowest In FY23 In January: Report

January became the fourth consecutive month to register first-time members below the 1 million mark. It is also lower than the average 1 million new workers that joined the scheme this fiscal.  

First-time subscribers in the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) scheme have come down to the lowest level this fiscal in January, amid layoffs in the tech sector and concerns over the domestic economic outlook in the backdrop of a global slowdown.  

In January, 0.77 million first-time members joined the EPFO, which was 7.5 per cent lower than the 0.84 million such workers that joined the scheme in December 2022, according to the payroll data released by the EPF Organisation (EPFO) on Monday. Prior to this, October 2022 had recorded the lowest number of first-time entrants during the fiscal at 0.78 million, reported The Financial Express citing PF data.

January continued to be the fourth consecutive month to register first-time members joining the social security scheme below the 1 million mark. It is also lower than the average 1 million new workers that joined the scheme this fiscal.  

It is to be noted that new members into the EPFO witnessed a decline after hitting a high of 1.16 million in July 2022 although it recovered partially in November when there was an increase in new entrants.

Overall, 1.48 million net members subscribed to EPFO in January 2023, which is 16.6 per cent higher than 1.28 million net members added in December 2022, the report added. In January, about 1.06 million members re-joined EPFO membership. “These members switched their jobs and re-joined the establishments covered under EPFO and opted to transfer their accumulations instead of applying for final settlement thus, extending their social security protection,” said the ministry.

The government uses the EPFO payroll data as a high-frequency measure for formal sector job creation in the economy. The initial numbers are, however, often revised upwards and even January’s data may see a similar increase.

Among the newly joined members, the highest enrolment is registered in the age-group of 18-21 years with 0.22 million members, followed by the age-group of 22-25 years with 0.2 million members.

While the age-groups of 18-25 years constitute 55.52 per cent of total of new members during the month,” the labour ministry said in a statement, adding that this indicates that the majority of the members are first-time job seekers joining organised sector workforce of the country.

It also highlighted that  January had the lowest exit in the last four months with only 0.35 million members exiting the EPFO fold.