EPFO adds 14.81 lakh net subscribers in August

New Delhi: The provisional payroll data of EPFO released this month highlights that EPFO has added around 14.81 lakh net subscribers during August 2021.

The data reflects a growing trend in net payroll for the first five months of the current financial year.

For the month of August 2021, the net subscriber addition has increased by 12.61 per cent as compared to the previous month of July, 2021.

Of the total 14.81 lakh net subscribers, around 9.19 lakh new members have come under the social security ambit of EPFO for the first time.

“Around 5.62 lakh net subscribers exited but rejoined EPFO by changing jobs within the establishments covered under the purview of EPF & MP Act, 1952,” a Labour Ministry release said.

The subscribers opted to continue their membership with EPFO by transferring their funds from their previous job to the current PF account instead of applying for final withdrawal.

Age-wise comparison of payroll data shows that the age-group of 22-25 years has registered the highest number of net enrolments with 4.03 lakh additions during August, 2021. This is followed by age-group of 18-21 with around 3.25 lakh net enrolments.

“This indicates that many first-time job seekers are joining organised sector workforce in large numbers and have contributed around 49.18 per cent of total net subscriber additions in August, 2021,” the release said.

State-wise comparison of payroll figures highlights that the establishments covered in the states of Maharashtra, Haryana, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are in lead by adding approximately 8.95 lakh subscribers during the month, which is around 60.45 per cent of total net payroll addition across all age groups.

Gender-wise analysis indicates that the share of female enrolment is approximately 20 per cent of the total net subscriber addition during the month.

The net addition of female subscriber has increased roughly by 10.18 per cent during August, 2021 as compared to previous month. This is largely due to lower female member exits during the month.

Industry-wise payroll data indicates that ‘expert services’ category (consisting of manpower agencies, private security agencies and small contractors etc.) constitutes 39.91 per cent of total subscriber addition during the month.

Apart from this, a growing trend in net payroll additions has been noted in areas like trading-commercial establishments, engineering products, building and construction, textiles, garment making, hospitals and financing establishments.

The release said that payroll data is provisional since the data generation is a continuous exercise, as updation of employee record is a continuous process.

The previous data hence gets updated every month. Since May, 2018 EPFO has been releasing payroll data covering the period September 2017 onwards.