EPFO records net addition of 14.4 lakh members

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The national retirement fund body, Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation, added a net 14.41 lakh members in March this year, according to the latest payroll data released by the organisation. Acording to the data, almost 11.80 lakh members exited and subsequently rejoined the EPFO a labour ministry statement said.

According to the statement, these members switched their jobs and joined other companies covered under the ambit of EPFO and transferred their accumulations instead of applying for final settlement thus.

The data indicates that around 7.47 lakh new members were enrolled in March 2024. A noticeable aspect of the data is the dominance of the 18-25 age group, constituting a significant 56.83 per cent of the total new members added in March 2024, indicating that the majority of individuals joining the organised workforce are youth, primarily first-time job seekers.

Out of the 7.47 lakh new members, 2 lakh were women.  Also, the net female member addition stood at around 2.90 lakh. The female member addition is indicative of a broader shift towards a more inclusive and diverse workforce.

Month-on-month comparison of industry-wise data displays growth in the members working in establishments engaged in industries like manufacturing, marketing servicing, usage of computers, restaurants, chartered accountants, fish processing and non-veg food preservation, beedi making etc.

Of the total net membership, around 43 per cent addition is from expert services (consisting of manpower suppliers, normal contractors, security services, miscellaneous activities etc).

The payroll data is provisional since the data generation is a continuous exercise, as updating employee records is a continuous process. The previous data hence gets updated every month. Since April 2018, the EPFO has been releasing payroll data covering the period from September 2017 onwards.