Retirement body Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Sunday said that it has seen net member addition of 18.53 in the month of August 2024. 

This represents a 9.07 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) growth compared to August 2023, signifying increased employment opportunities and heightened awareness of employee benefits, bolstered by EPFO’s effective outreach initiatives.

New members

EPFO enrolled around 9.30 lakh new members in August 2024, representing an increase of 0.48 per cent on y-o-y basis. The new membership was dominated by those in the 18-25 age group, constituting a significant 59.26 per cent of the total new members added in August 2024. 

In addition, the net payroll data for the age group 18-25 for August 2024 is 8.06 lakh. This is in consonance with the earlier trend which indicates that most individuals joining the organised workforce are youth, primarily first-time job seekers.

Rejoining members

The payroll data for August 2024 highlighted that about 13.54 lakh members exited and subsequently re-joined EPFO. This figure depicts year-over-year growth of 14.03 per cent compared to August 2023. These members switched their jobs and re-joined the establishments covered under the ambit of EPFO and opted to transfer their accumulations instead of applying for final settlement thus, safeguarding long-term financial well-being and extending their social security protection.

Female membership

Gender-wise analysis of payroll data reveals that out of the new members added during the month, around 2.53 lakh are new female members. This figure exhibits year-over-year growth of 3.75 per cent compared to August 2023. 

Also, the net female member addition during the month stood at around 3.79 lakh. It reflects a year over year growth of 10.41 percent compared to August 2023. The surge in female member additions is indicative of a broader shift towards a more inclusive and diverse workforce.

State-wise contribution

State-wise analysis of payroll data denotes that net member addition in the top five States/ UTs constitutes around 59.17 per cent of net member addition, adding a total around 10.97 lakh net members during the month. 

Of all the states, Maharashtra is leading by adding 20.59 per cent of net members during the month. The States/UTs of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Delhi, Gujarat, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh individually added more than 5 per cent of the total net members during the month.

Industry-wise trends

Month-on-month comparison of industry-wise data displays significant growth in the members working in establishments engaged in the industries viz. Trading - commercial establishments, Engineers - engg. contractors, Building and construction industry, Agriculture farms, Beedi making etc. 

Of the total net membership, around 40.36 per cent addition is from expert services (consisting of manpower suppliers, normal contractors, security services, miscellaneous activities etc.).

From the month of April 2018, EPFO has been releasing payroll data covering the period October 2017 onwards. 

In monthly payroll data, the count of members joining EPFO for the first time through Aadhaar validated Universal Account Number (UAN), existing members exiting from coverage of EPFO and those who exited but re-joined as members, is taken to arrive at net monthly payroll.

‘eShram-One Stop Solution’

Meanwhile, Mansukh Mandavia, Union Labour & Employment and Youth Affairs and Sports will Monday launch ‘eShram-One Stop Solution’ in the capital. 

This is in keeping with the vision of the recent Budget announcement on developing eShram as a One-stop-solution for unorganised labour to have access to various social sector schemes. 

The eShram-One Stop Solution will act as a mediator to ensure that unorganised workers have easy access to a variety of Government schemes/programmes. This initiative will help unorganised workers become aware of the schemes designed for them.

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