New Delhi: Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) provisional payroll data released on 20th February, 2024 highlights that EPFO has added 15.62 lakh net members in the month of December, 2023 which is highest in last three months. 

An increase of 11.97% has been registered in net member addition during the current month as compared to the previous month of November 2023, Ministry of Labour & Employment said in a release.

“The data indicates that around 8.41 lakh new members have enrolled during December, 2023 which is highest during the previous three months. The new members addition shows an increase of 14.21% when compared with previous month of November 2023. A noticeable aspect of the data is the dominance of the 18-25 age group, constituting a significant 57.18% of the total new members added in December. This statistic underscores a notable trend – the majority of individuals joining the organized workforce are youth, primarily first-time job seekers,” the release added.

The payroll data highlighted that approximately 12.02 lakh members exited and subsequently rejoined EPFO. 

“This figure represents a significant 12.61% increase compared to the previous month of November 2023 and stands as the highest recorded in the past five months. 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,” said the release.

Gender-wise analysis of payroll data unveils that out of 8.41 lakh new members, around 2.09 lakh are new female members. This figure marks the highest recorded addition of female workforce in the last three months. The comparison with the previous month of November 2023 shows an increase of 7.57%. Also, the net female member addition during the month stood at around 2.90 lakh reflecting an increase of approximately 3.54 % compared to the previous month of November 2023.The surge in female member additions is indicative of a broader shift towards a more inclusive and diverse workforce.

State-wise analysis of payroll data denotes that net member addition is highest in the 5 states/ UTs of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Haryana. These states constitute around 58.33% 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% of net members during the month.