Net new women EPFO subscribers addition rises to 28.69 lakh in FY23

New Delhi: Retirement fund body EPFO recorded a net new women subscribers addition of 28,69,688 in FY23 against 15,93,614 in 2019-20, showing a rise in employment through the pandemic, Parliament was informed on Thursday.

The net addition in Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) subscriptions is an indicator of the extent of job creation/formalisation of the job market and the coverage of social security benefits to the organised/ semi-organised sector workforce, said Minister of State for Labour & Employment Rameshwar Teli in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

Teli explained that the EPFO data covers the low-paid workers in medium and large establishments of the formal sector.

According to the reply, the net addition in women EPFO subscribers increased from 15,93,614 in 2019-20 to 28,69,688 in 2022-23.

The net women EPFO subscribers addition was 13,98,080 in 2020-21 and 26,18,728 in 2021-22.

Teli also informed the House that the estimated female unemployment rate (UR) on usual status for persons of age 15 years and above in the country declined to 2.9 per cent in 2022-23 from 4.2 per cent in 2019-20, as per the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS).

It was 3.5 in 2020-21 and 3.3 in 2021-22.

The data indicates that the labour force indicators in 2022-23 for women are better than the pre-Covid period, the minister told the House.

Teli said the estimated female worker population ratio (WPR) increased to 35.6 per cent during 2022-23 from 28.7 per cent in 2019-20, which shows that female employment in the country has an increasing trend.

Employment generation, coupled with improving employability, is the priority of the government, Teli said, adding that the government has taken various steps to increase employability in the country, including women’s participation in the labour force and quality of their

employment.