New Delhi, May 20: Retirement fund manager Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) added 15.32 lakh net subscribers in March 2022, according to government data released on Friday.
“Month-on-month comparison of payroll data shows an increase of 2.47 lakh net subscribers in March, 2022 comparing with the net additions during the month of February, 2022,” Ministry of Labour and Employment said in a statement. Of the total 15.32 lakh net subscribers added during the month, around 9.68 lakh new members have been covered under the provisions of Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act (EPF & MP Act).
As per the official statement, around 5.64 lakh net subscribers exited but re-joined the establishments covered under EPFO by transferring their funds from previous PF account to the current PF account, instead of opting for final withdrawal. Age-wise comparison of payroll data indicated that the age-group of 22-25 years has been on the forefront by registering the highest number of net enrolments with 4.11 lakh additions during March, 2022.
This is followed by age-group of 29-35 with addition of 3.17 lakh net subscribers. The age-group of 18-21 years also added around 2.93 lakh net subscribers during the month. The age-group of 18-25 years constitutes around 45.96% net subscribers addition during the month.
“Age-wise payroll data indicates that many first time job seekers are joining organised sector workforce in large numbers,” Labour Ministry said. State-wise comparison of payroll figures highlights that the establishments covered in the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Haryana and Delhi led in providing jobs adding around 10.14 lakh net subscribers during the month.
“Gender-wise analysis indicates that net female payroll addition is approximately 3.48 lakh during the month. Share of female enrolment is 22.70% of total net subscribers addition during the month of March, 2022 with an increase of 65,224 net enrolments over the previous month of February, 2022,” said Labour Ministry.
Industry-wise payroll data indicates that mainly two categories of ‘expert services’ (consisting of manpower agencies, private security agencies and small contractors etc.) and ‘Trading-Commercial establishments’ constitute 47.76% of total subscriber addition during the month.
“Growing trend in net payroll addition has been noted in industries like textiles, heavy-fine chemicals, hotels & restaurants etc. in March, 2022 as compared to net subscriber addition in February, 2022,” said the official release.
