New Delhi: The latest data released by India’s pension fund body, the Employee Provident Fund Organization, shows that more than half of the new members who joined the scheme in the month of November last year were in the age group of 18-25, suggesting that first-time job seekers are getting their first job in the organized sector.
According to the latest data released by the pension fund body, it added 16.26 lakh net subscribers in the month of November which is a jump of 16.5 per cent in comparison with the addition during the same month of 2021, when the country’s economy was set to face the challenge posed by the outbreak of a possible third Covid wave triggered by the highly contagious Omicron variant of the SarS-CoV-19 virus.
More significantly, the increase in net additions in the month of November last year is even bigger in comparison with the increase in net additions during the preceding month as the net additions into the payroll data jumped by more than 25 per cent in November in comparison with the net additions in the payroll data in October 2022.
The latest official data released Friday showed that more than half of the new members of total 16.26 net additions in the payroll data in the month of November were those members who have joined the pension fund body for the first time. Of these members, 8.99 lakh of total 16.26 lakh net additions account for more than 55 per cent of the net additions in that month.
The data showed that new members joining the pension fund body have gone up by 1.71 lakh, from 7.28 lakh in October 2022 to 8.99 lakh first-time members in November 2022. More importantly, the data also showed that the highest enrollment has been registered in the 18-21 years age group which accounts for more than 30 per cent or 2.77 lakh members of the total first-time members.
Similarly, the second biggest chunk comes from the 22-to-25 years age group which accounts for nearly 60 per cent or 2.32 lakh members of the first-time subscribers. It shows that the net additions in the age group of 18-25 years is more than 56% of the total first-time members, nearly 9 lakh members and it is more than 31 per cent in case of total net addition of 16.26 lakh members in November last year. “This shows that first-time job seekers are largely joining the organized sector workforce of the country,” said the government.
Increasing women participation in workforce
In a clear proof of more women joining the organized sector, the latest data released by the EPFO showed that the net membership of females in the organised sector went up by nearly 8% in November 2022 on the year-on-year basis.
According to the gender-wise breakdown of the payroll data, the net enrolment of female members in the scheme was in excess of 3 lakh members in November last year, which is nearly 20 per cent of the total net additions in the month.
It is an increase of more than 50,000 female subscribers in comparison with the net addition of female members in the preceding month of October 2022 when 2.63 lakh female members had joined the scheme. In terms of year-on-year, it is a nearly 8% growth in the enrollment of female members in November 2022.
The data also showed that nearly 11.21 lakh members re-joined membership of the pension fund body. It means these members switched their jobs and re-joined the new jobs in those companies and firms that are part of the pension fund body. These more than 11 lakh subscribers opted for transfer of their corpus rather than of applying for final settlement thus, extending their social security protection.
Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu lead the pack
An analysis of the state-wise payroll suggests that the western state of Maharashtra is leading the pack as it accounts for 20 per cent net additions. The state is followed by Tamil Nadu which accounts for nearly 11 per cent of the net additions in November 2022.
In addition to these two states, Gujarat, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan have also shown an increase in net additions, and these six states account for nearly 60 per cent of all the additions during the month.
