Pension fund body EPFO’s net new member additions rose 9% to 18.5 lakh in August

Pension fund body EPFO’s net new member additions rose 9.07 per cent to 18.53 lakh in August, compared to a year ago, according to payroll data released on Sunday.

The EPFO ​​enrolled around 9.30 lakh new members in August 2024, which is an increase of 0.48 per cent from August 2023, according to a Labor Ministry release.

This increase in new memberships can be attributed to increasing employment opportunities, increased awareness of employee benefits and successful outreach programs of EPFO, he said.

According to the provisional payroll data for August 2024 released by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO), there was a net addition of 18.53 lakh members in August 2024, representing a year-on-year growth of 9, 07 percent.

A notable aspect of the data is the predominance of the 18-25 age group, which constitutes a significant 59.26 percent of the total new member additions in August 2024.

Additionally, the net payroll data for the 18-25 age group for August 2024 was 8.06 lakh.

This is in line with the previous trend indicating that the majority of people joining the organized workforce are young people, mainly first-time job seekers, he said.

Payroll data highlights that approximately 13.54 lakh members left and subsequently rejoined the EPFO. This figure represents a year-on-year growth of 14.03 percent.

These members changed jobs and rejoined establishments covered under the ambit of EPFO ​​and opted to transfer their savings instead of seeking final settlement, thereby safeguarding long-term financial well-being and extending their social security protection.

Gender analysis of payroll data reveals that of the new members added during the month, around 2.53 lakhs are new women. This figure shows a year-on-year growth of 3.75 percent.

Additionally, the net addition of female members during the month under review stood at around 3.79 lakh. It reflects a year-on-year growth of 10.41 percent.

The increase in the addition of female members is indicative of a broader shift toward a more inclusive and diverse workforce, she said.

State analysis of payroll data indicates that the net addition of members in the top five states/UTs constitutes around 59.17 per cent of the net addition of members, adding up to a total of around 10.97 lakh net members during August.

Of all states, Maharashtra leads by adding 20.59 per cent net members during August 2024.

The states/UTs of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Delhi, Gujarat, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh individually added more than 5 per cent of the total net members during the month.

Month on month comparison of industry data showed significant growth in members working in establishments engaged in industries viz. Commerce – commercial establishments, engineers – ing. Contractors, Construction Industry, Agricultural Farms, Beedi Manufacturing etc.

Of the total net members, around 40.36 percent came from specialized services (composed of labor suppliers, normal contractors, security services, miscellaneous activities, etc.).

The payroll data is provisional as data generation is an ongoing exercise, just as updating employee records is an ongoing process, he said.

In the monthly payroll data, the count of members joining EPFO ​​for the first time through Aadhaar-validated Universal Account Number (UAN), existing members exiting EPFO ​​coverage and those they left but rejoined as members, is taken to arrive at the net monthly figure. payroll, he stated.