New Delhi, Feb 20 (Agency) Indicating uptick in the employment, the EPFO has said that it added 15.62 lakh net members during December 2023, which is highest in the previous 3 months. Releasing the provisional data for the month of December, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) said the net addition is an increase of nearly 12 per cent during the month compared to previous month November 2023. Further, the year on year analysis reveals a growth of 4.62 per cent in net member additions compared to December 2022.
“The surge in membership can be attributed to various factors, including increased employment opportunities, a growing awareness of employee benefits and the effectiveness of EPFO’s outreach programs,” the Ministry of Labour & Employment said in an official statement. A noticeable aspect of the data is the dominance of the 18-25 age group, constituting a significant over 57 per cent of the total new members added in December. Among the new members of 8.41 lakh joining the payroll data, around 2.09 lakh are female members. This figure marks the highest recorded addition of female workforce in the last three months. State-wise analysis of payroll data denotes that net member addition is highest in the 5 states and Union Territories of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Haryana. These states constitute over 58 per cent of net member addition adding a total of 9.11 lakh net members during the month. Of all the states, Maharashtra is leading by adding 21.63 per cent of net members.