The provisional payroll data of EPFO released on 20th September, 2022 highlights that EPFO has added 18.23 lakh net members in the month of July, 2022. Year-on-year comparison of payroll data reflects an increase of 24.48% in net membership addition in July, 2022 as compared to the corresponding month during last year in 2021.

Of the total 18.23 lakh members added during the month, around 10.58 lakh new members have come under the social security cover of EPFO for the first time. The data of new members joining EPFO has shown a growing trend since April, 2022. Out of 10.58 lakh new members added, approximately 57.69% are from the age-group of 18-25 years of age. This shows that first-time job seekers are joining organized sector workforce in large numbers following their education and new jobs in organized sector are largely going to the youth of the country.

During the month, around 4.07 lakh members exited from the ambit of EPFO and 11.72 lakh members exited and rejoined EPFO. These members have chosen to retain their membership through transfer of funds rather than opting for final settlement. This may be attributed to various e-initiatives taken by EPFO for seamless and uninterrupted service delivery.

Gender-wise analysis of payroll data indicates that enrolment of net female members has been 4.06 lakh in July, 2022. Year-on-year comparison of enrolment data shows that new membership of females in organized workforce has increased by 34.84% in July, 2022 comparing with the new female membership during previous year in July, 2021.

Among the total new members joining EPFO during the month, enrolment of female workforce is recorded as 27.54%, which is the highest in last 12 months. This indicates that female participation is rising in the organised workforce with respect to new members joining EPFO.

State-wise payroll figures highlights that month-on-month growing trend in net member addition was observed in the states of Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh & Madhya Pradesh. During the month, the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Gujarat and Delhi continue to remain in lead by adding approximately 12.46 lakh net members during the month, which is 68.36% of total net payroll addition across all age groups.

The classification of industry-wise payroll data indicates that mainly two categories i.e. ‘expert services’ (consisting of manpower agencies, private security agencies and small contractors etc.) and ‘Trading-Commercial establishments’ constitute 46.20% of total member addition during the month. Comparing industry-wise data with that of previous month, higher enrolments have been noticed in industries namely, ‘Schools’, ‘Building & Construction Industry’, ‘Financing Establishment’ etc.

The 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. From the month of April-2018, EPFO has been releasing payroll data covering the period September, 2017 onwards. In monthly payroll data, the count of members joining EPFO for the first time through Aadhaar validated Universal Account Number (UAN), existing members exiting from coverage of EPFO and those who exited but rejoining as members, is taken to arrive at net monthly payroll.

With the wide usage of smartphones nowadays, EPFO has extended its services through mobile governance also. EPFO is now also available on Twitter, WhatsApp and Facebook to help the members.

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HS