Jan job creation at 17-month high of 8.96 lakh: EPFO data

New Delhi: Net employment generation in the formal sector touched a 17-month high of 8.96 lakh in January, according to the latest Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) payroll data. The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation has been releasing payroll data from April 2018, covering the period starting September 2017.

The addition in January was 131 per cent higher as compared with 3.87 lakh Employees' Provident Fund Organisation subscribers added in the year-ago month. In September 2017, a net of 2,75,609 jobs were created.

Around 76.48 lakh new subscribers were added to social security schemes of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation from September 2017 to January 2019, the data showed. This indicates that these many jobs were created in the formal sector over the past 17 months.

The net Employees' Provident Fund Organisation enrolment in January 2019 stood at 8,96,516, which is the highest since September 2017. The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation, however, revised slightly downwards its payroll data for December 2018 by 1.8 per cent to 7.03 lakh, against the earlier estimate of 7.16 lakh released last month.

It also revised the cumulative job addition data for the September 2017-December 2018 period downwards 6.6 per cent to 67.52 lakh, from the earlier forecast of 72.32 lakh. The sharpest revision was for March 2018 in the latest report which showed contraction or exit of 29,023 members from the EPFO subscriptions whereas last month's estimated addition of 5,498 members.

The EPFO data showed that the March 2018 figure is negative due to large number of exits reported in March, in view of it being the closing month of the financial year. During January 2019, the highest number of 2.44 lakh jobs were created in the 22-25 years age group, followed by 2.24 lakh in the 18-21 years age bracket.

The data of the exited members is based on the claims submitted by the individuals and establishments and the exit data uploaded by employers, whereas the number of new subscribers is based on the Universal Account Number (UAN) generated in the system and those who have received non-zero subscription. The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation said the data is provisional as updation of employee records is a continuous process and gets updated in subsequent months.

This is age-band wise data of new members registered under the EPFO where the first non-zero contribution received during particular month. For each age-wise band, the estimates are net of the members newly enrolled, exited and rejoined during the month as per records of the EPFO, it added.

The estimates may include temporary employees whose contributions may not be continuous for the entire year. Members' data are linked to unique Aadhaar Identity, it added. The EPFO manages social security funds of workers in the organised/semi organised sector in India and has more than 6 crore active members (with at least one-month contribution in the year).

Meanwhile, Fitch Ratings Friday cut India's GDP growth forecast for the next fiscal to 6.8 per cent from 7 per cent estimated earlier on weaker than expected economic momentum. In its latest Global Economic Outlook, Fitch also slashed GDP growth forecast for current fiscal ending March 2019 to 6.9 per cent from 7.2 per cent projected in the December edition.

The 6.9 per cent estimate is a notch lower than 7 per cent growth estimated by the Central Statiscs Office (CSO) for the current fiscal. Indian economy grew 7.2 per cent in 2017-18 fiscal.