EPFO added 14.63 lakh net members in November 2024 amid growing employment

New Delhi: The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Wednesday announced a net addition of 14.63 lakh members in November 2024, which represents an increase of 9.07 per cent over the corresponding figure for October.

Further, the year-on-year analysis reveals a growth of 4.88 per cent in net member additions compared to November 2023, reflecting increased employment opportunities and heightened awareness of employee benefits, according to the official statement.

EPFO enrolled around 8.74 lakh new members in November 2024. The addition of new members shows an increase of 16.58 per cent when compared with the previous month of October 2024. Further, year-on-year analysis reveals a growth of 18.8 per cent in the new members addition from the previous year in November 2023.

This surge in new memberships can be attributed to growing employment opportunities, increased awareness of employee benefits, and EPFO’s successful outreach programs, the statement said.

A noticeable aspect of the data is the dominance of the 18-25 age group, with 4.81 lakh new members added in the 18-25 age group constituting a significant 54.97 per cent of the total new members added in November 2024. New members added in the month from the 18-25 age group show an increase of 9.56 per cent compared with the previous month of October 2024 and a growth of 13.99 per cent from the previous year in November 2023, the statement explained.

In addition, the net payroll data for the age group 18-25 for November 2024 is approximately 5.86 lakh reflecting an increase of 7.96 per cent compared to the previous month of October 2024. This is in consonance with the earlier trend which indicates that most individuals joining the organised workforce are youth, primarily first-time job seekers.

Gender-wise analysis of payroll data unveils that out of the new members added during the month, around 2.40 lakhs are new female members. The comparison with the previous month of October 2024 shows an increase of 14.94 per cent. This figure also exhibits significant year-over-year growth of 23.62 per cent compared to November 2023.

Also, the net female member addition during the month stood at around 3.13 lakh reflecting an increase of approximately 12.16 per cent compared to the previous month of October 2024. It also reflects a year-over-year growth of 11.75 per cent compared to November 2023. The increase in female member additions is indicative of a broader shift towards a more inclusive and diverse workforce.

The payroll data also highlights that approximately 14.39 lakh members exited and subsequently rejoined EPFO. This figure represents an 11.47 per cent increase compared to the previous month of October 2024. It also depicts a significant year-over-year growth of 34.75 per cent compared to November 2023. These members switched their jobs and re-joined the establishments covered under the ambit of EPFO and opted to transfer their accumulations instead of applying for final settlement thus, safeguarding long-term financial well-being and extending their social security protection.

A state-wise analysis of payroll data denotes that net member addition in the top five states/ UTs constitutes around 59.42 per cent of net member addition, adding a total of around 8.69 lakh during the month. Of all the states, Maharashtra is leading by adding 20.86 per cent of net members during the month. The states/UTs of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Gujarat, Delhi, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh individually added more than 5 per cent of the total net members during the month.

A month-on-month comparison of industry-wise data displays significant growth in the members working in establishments engaged in industries such as “societies, clubs or associations”, and engineers, engineering contractors, textiles, garments making as well as electrical, mechanical or general engineering products.

Of the total net membership, around 38.98 per cent addition is from expert services consisting of manpower suppliers, normal contractors, security services and miscellaneous activities.

The payroll data is provisional since data generation is a continuous exercise, as updating employee records is a continuous process, the statement added.

–IANS