For first time in current fiscal in Sept, new subscribers' addition falls below 10L-mark

New Delhi: New subscribers' addition under the social security schemes run by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) fell below the 10 lakh-mark for the first time in the current fiscal in September at 9.34 lakh, the latest payroll data of the retirement fund showed.

Though fresh addition doesn't always mean new jobs (in many cases, it could just be a shift of jobs from the informal to the formal sector), a rise or fall in the new subscribers' addition gives a glimpse of the job market dynamics.

EPFO, however, maintains that the data is provisional in nature "since the data generation is a continuous exercise, as updating employee records is a continuous process."

During the month, net addition of subscribers', however, was so far the highest of the current fiscal at 16.82 lakh. EPFO arrives at the net number by deducting the total of the subscribers' who exited from the sum of new subscribers and those who left earlier but re-joined during the period.

The September data showed just around 3.3 lakh members, lowest in six months, exited during the month.

The number of persons who left the EPFO scheme earlier but re-joined during the month was also at its lowest so far in the current fiscal.

"Year-on-year comparison of payroll data reflects an increase of 9.14% in net membership addition in September, 2022 as compared to the corresponding month during last year in 2021. The net enrolment during the month is 21.85% higher than the monthly average recorded during the last fiscal," said a statement from the ministry of labour and employment.

Among the new members, the highest, at 2.94 lakh, was from the 18-21 years age group followed by the age group of 21-25 years with 2.54 lakh members.

"This shows that first-time job seekers are joining the organized sector workforce in large numbers following their education and new jobs in the organized sector are largely going to the youth of the country," the labour ministry said.

Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana,

Gujarat and Delhi continue to remain in lead by adding approximately 11.41 lakh or 67.85% of net members, across all age groups, during the month.

Of the net addition of members, 3.5 lakh were females.

Since April 2018, EPFO has been releasing payroll data covering the period September 2017 onwards.