The number of first time members joining the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation(EPFO) declined marginally in August to 9.87 lakh from 10.58 lakh in July.

The number of new members joining the EPFO have been increasing every month since April this year and August marks the first month when there was a decline although the figures still remain buoyant.

“Out of 9.87 lakh new members added, approximately 58.32 per cent are from the age-group of 18 to 25 years of age,” said the Ministry of Labour and Employment in a statement while releasing the provisional EPFO payroll data.

Potential age group

“This age-group signifies a crucial stage for an individual’s potential in terms of earning capacity and joining organised workforce in large numbers following their education,” it further said.

Overall, the EPFO added 16.94 lakh net members in the month of August, 2022, which is a 14.4 per cent increase from a year ago.

During August, 7.07 lakh net members exited but re-joined EPFO by changing their jobs within the establishments covered by EPFO and opted to transfer their funds from previous PF account to the current account instead of submitting claims for final settlement.

Payroll data

Gender-wise analysis of the payroll data indicates that enrolment of net female members has been 3.63 lakh in August, 2022, which is a 22.6 per cent growth year on year.

Amongst States, month-on-month growing trend in net member addition was seen in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand and Bihar.

Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Gujarat and Delhi continued to lead by adding approximately 11.25 lakh net members during August, which was 66.44 per cent of the total net payroll addition across all age groups.

The classification of industry-wise payroll data indicates that mainly two categories — expert services (consisting of manpower agencies, private security agencies and small contractors) and trading-commercial establishments constitute 47.03 per cent of total member addition during the month.

Compared to July 2022, higher enrolments in August were seen in industries including electrical, mechanical or general engineering products, electronic media companies in private sector’, university and financing establishment.

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