According to the most recent payroll data released by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), the number of new formal jobs increased for the third consecutive month in June to reach a 9-month high, signaling a sustained recovery in the labor markets in the first quarter of the financial year 2023–24 (FY24).
The amount of new monthly subscribers to the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) increased by roughly 10% from 927,703 in May to 1,014,229 in June. 1,015,683 new users were added to the EPF earlier, in September 2022.
Young customers (those between the ages of 18 and 28) made up 67.8% (687,823) of the 1,014,229 new members registered in June, up from 66.5 percent (616,783) in May. This is significant because people in this age bracket are frequently new to the workforce, indicating the market’s resilience.
In a similar vein, the percentage of women finding a job grew to 27.7% (281,078) in June from 24.9 percent (231,187) in May.
Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder of TeamLease Services, said in the first quarter firms usually prepare a holistic view of their workforce requirements, which facilitates new hiring.
“Going forward, the hiring momentum generated in the first quarter is expected to continue in the short- to medium-term as the festive season is just going to begin. This is expected to generate more new jobs” she added.
Echoing similar views, Lohit Bhatia, president of, Indian Staffing Federation (ISF) said the June data shows robustness in formal job creation and is a reflection of the transition of informal to formal employment, which is typically led by medium and large enterprises as we reach the festive season.
“The economy is gradually becoming more formalized with goods and services tax (GST) and growing investments in core infrastructure sectors, the downstream positive effects of which are visible in sectors like retail, banking, financial, telecom, and manufacturing. Employers too are preferring to add personnel in the formal sector as that enables continuity and skilling,” he added.
Besides, the net payroll addition — calculated by taking into account the number of new subscribers, the number of exits, and the return of old subscribers — however, increased by 28.9 per cent to 1.78 million in June from 1.38 million in May. The net monthly payroll numbers are, however, provisional in nature and are often revised sharply the following month. That is why the new EPF subscriber figure has greater certitude than net additions. State-wise analysis of the net payroll data denotes that net member addition is highest inthe 5 states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat, and Haryana, which constitutes around 60.40 per cent of net member addition, adding a total of 1.80 million members during the month, said the labour ministry in a statement.
The government uses payroll data to track employment in the formal sector as part of its monthly data releases from the EPFO. The National Statistical Office has been publishing statistics on employment in the formal sector since April 2018. These statistics cover the time period from September 2017 to the present and are based on data on the number of subscribers to the Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme, Employees’ State Insurance Scheme, and the National Pension System.
With Input source
