Job creation at snail’s pace, shows EPFO data

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India’s formal job creation inched ahead only marginally in May, 2023, according to payroll data from EPFO (Employee Provident Fund Organization). Around 16.3 lakh people joined the system in May, 2023, a slight increase from the 15.37 lakh people who formally entered the job scene a month ago, in April.

Over 8.87 lakh people aged between 18-28 joined EPFO during April 23, which increased to 9,13,904 in May 23.

According to a statement by the Ministry of Labour and Employment on this matter, the gross new enrolments in EPFO in May, 23 stood at around 8.83 lakh, which is the highest during the last 6 months. More than 55% of these people were aged between 18-25.

However, in terms of net new subscribers (those who joined minus those who left), April, which had 14,34,819 additions was narrowly higher than May, which saw 14,27,241 net joiners. There were also about 11.4 lakh people who had previously exited who rejoined the system, thereby extending their social security cover instead of withdrawing their corpus.

Gender-wise, out of the 8.83 new joiners, about 2.21 lakh were women who opened their account with EPFO for the first time. Overall, women participation in novel EPFO joining for May 23 stood at 3.15 lakhs, or 35.66%

The data also highlighted that units engaged in construction, textiles, electronic media, finance and rubber products have recorded a steep rise in the number of EPFO accounts opened. About 42.04% additions to these accounts came from expert services, which includes segments such as manpower supply, security, contractors etc.

Most enrolments in April and May came from Maharashtra, followed by Karnataka, Haryana, Delhi, Tamil Nadu. This is because some of the major employment hubs of India like Mumbai, Bangalore, Gurugram and Chennai are located in these states.