Amid global layoffs and an economic slowdown, 1.39 crore people found new formal jobs in India in FY23, according to the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation’s payroll reporting data analysis. The data was released a week ago.
This is a 13 per cent increase compared to FY22. Even though tech start-ups in India laid off around 20,000 employees in FY23, the EPFO data shows that other sectors did well in providing jobs. EPFO captures the employment data of firms employing at least 20.
Data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy also showed lower unemployment rate, 7.6 per cent, in FY23, compared to the previous two financial years — 8 per cent in FY22 and 10 per cent in FY21.
The data also shows that 22 per cent of the new jobs — 30.28 lakh payroll additions — were in Maharashtra, across age groups and sectors.
This, however, is nothing new. Since September 2017, when the EPFO began releasing payroll addition data, Maharashtra has topped every financial year. From 15.8 lakh in FY19, new formal jobs in the state increased to 17.4 lakh the following year. While there was a dip during the pandemic in FY21, the number shot up in FY22. This again increased by 15 per cent in FY23.
Tamil Nadu is in second place, with 14.05 net new payroll additions in FY23. The state has risen in ranking after a gap of five years, recording a 9.6 per cent increase in formal job creation compared to FY22.
Karnataka, Haryana and Gujarat bagged the third, fourth and fifth positions, respectively. Among the large states, Assam had the fewest formal job creations at 64,432. This is, however, a 177 per cent increase compared to FY22.
The age-wise breakup of new job creation suggests that the 22-25 age group bagged the most jobs at 36.24 lakh. A whopping 32.25 lakh people aged 18-21 also bagged formal jobs in FY23.