New Delhi, Sep 20 (Bureau) Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) added around 14.65 lakh net subscribers during July, 2021 recording an increase of 31.28 per cent over the previous month. The provisional data showed the EPFO had net payroll addition of 11.16 lakh in June. “Of the total 14.65 lakh net subscribers, around 9.02 lakh new members have come under the social security umbrella of EPFO for the first time. Around 5.63 lakh net subscribers exited but rejoined EPFO by changing jobs within the establishments covered by EPFO,” an official release from Ministry of Labour and Employment said. This shows that majority of subscribers opted to continue their membership with EPFO by transferring their past accumulations from previous job to the current PF (provident fund) account rather than applying for final withdrawal.
The payroll data showed that during July 2021, the number of members who have joined EPFO for the first time has increased by 6 per cent, members rejoining increased by around 9 per cent while members who exited have decreased by 36.84 per cent as compared with previous month. Age-wise comparison of payroll data shows that the age-group of 22-25 years has registered highest number of net enrolments with 3.88 lakh additions during the month of July, 2021. This is followed by age-group of 18-21 with around 3.27 lakh net enrolments. This indicates many first-time job seekers are joining organised sector workforce in large numbers and have contributed around 48.82 per cent of total net subscriber additions in July, 2021. “State-wise comparison of payroll figures highlights that the establishments covered in the states of Maharashtra, Haryana, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are in lead by adding approximately 9.17 lakh subscribers during the month, which is around 62.62 per cent of total net payroll addition across all age groups,” said the Labour Ministry statement.
Gender-wise analysis indicates that the share of female enrolment is about 20.56 per cent of the total net subscriber addition during the month. The net addition of female subscriber increased to 3.01 lakh during July 2021 as compared to 2.18 lakh in June, 2021. This is largely due to lower female member exits and higher new joining during the month, the Ministry noted. Industry-wise payroll data indicates that ‘expert services’ category (consisting of manpower agencies, private security agencies and small contractors etc.) constitutes 41.62 per cent of total subscriber addition during the month. Apart from this, growing trend in net payroll additions has been noted in industries like engineering products, building & construction, textiles, garment making, hospitals and financing establishments.