India’s job market continues to boom, with a massive 4.67 crore jobs added in the last fiscal year and robust growth evident in the formal and informal sectors in the current financial year 2024-25. This strong employment generation is reflected in double-digit growth in the unincorporated sector and significant enrollment increases across key social security schemes like EPF and ESIC.

While a massive 4.67 crore additional jobs were created in the Indian economy in the financial year ended March 2024, the fast pace of employment generation has continued into 2024-25 in both the formal and informal sectors, official data shows.

The total estimated employment in India’s Unincorporated Sector recorded a double-digit growth of 10.01 per cent during October 2023–September 2024, compared to the same period of the previous year, according to the annual survey of the Ministry of Statistics released on Thursday.

The Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) shows that among the broad sectors covered, the number of establishments in the “Other Services” employed more than 12 crore additional workers between October 2023 and September 2024, marking an increase of more than one crore workers from 2022-23 and reflecting robust labour market growth.

Among the broad activities, the “Other Services” sector showed the highest annual growth of 17.86 per cent, followed by 10.03 per cent in the manufacturing sector. The unincorporated non-agricultural sector plays an important role in the Indian economy contributing significantly to employment, Gross Domestic Product, and the overall socio-economic landscape.

This sector sustains millions of livelihoods and acts as a backbone for the incorporated sector by supplying goods and services, reinforcing its role in the domestic value chain. Similarly, India’s employment in the formal sector, which offers better quality jobs, has kept up its growth momentum during the first half of the current financial year with an increase in new additions across the three social security schemes compared to the same period last year, according to official figures released in November.

New enrolments to the Employees’ Provident Fund scheme, which applies to larger organisations and better-paid employees, increased by 2.3 per cent to 6.1 million in the first half of 2024-25 (April-September), compared to the same period of the previous year. New subscriptions to Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, which applies to smaller organisations, grew faster at 5.2 per cent with 9.3 million additions during the first half of the current financial year.

Similarly, subscriptions to the National Pension System were 6.8 percent higher, reflecting the rising number of employees entering better job streams. The Finance Ministry’s latest monthly economic review also observed this improvement in job quality.

–IANS

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According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Labour and Employment on Wednesday, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) added 13.41 lakh members net during October, reflecting increased employment and higher awareness of employee benefits among workers.

The EPFO enrolled around 7.50 lakh new members in October out of which a significant 58.49 per cent were in the young 18-25 age group. The net number for this dominant age group is 5.43 lakhs.

This is in consonance with the earlier trend which indicates that most individuals joining the organized workforce are youth, primarily first-time job seekers, indicating the increasing employment opportunities in the economy. The payroll data highlights that approximately 12.90 lakh members exited and subsequently rejoined EPFO.

This figure depicts year-over-year growth of 16.23 per cent, compared to October 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 gender-wise analysis of the payroll data reveals that out of the new members added during the month, around 2.09 lakhs are new female members. This figure exhibits year-on-year growth of 2.12 per cent, compared to October 2023. Also, the net female member addition during the month stood at around 2.79 lakh.

The increase in female member additions is indicative of a broader shift towards a more inclusive and diverse workforce, the official statement said. A state-wise analysis of payroll data shows that net member addition in the top five states/ UTs constitutes around 61.32 per cent of net member addition, adding a total of around 8.22 lakh net members during the month. Maharashtra is the leading state with the addition of 22.18 per cent of net members during the month.

The states/UTs of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Haryana, Telangana, and Gujarat 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 road motor transport, electronic media companies, banks other than nationalised banks etc.

The payroll data is provisional since data generation is a continuous exercise and updating employees’ records is a continuous process, the statement added.

–IANS

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Union Minister for Labour and Employment, Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, has stressed that the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has played a pivotal role in providing social security and financial stability to millions of members across the country.

In his keynote address at an event in the national capital, Dr Mandaviya lauded the transformative journey of EPFO, underscoring its critical role in managing a vast corpus of savings for its members and enhancing social security provisions across the nation. The minister also stressed the importance of robust IT platform, efficient system for grievance management and the implementation of member centric model of service delivery. Dr Mandaviya urged EPFO employees to embrace the organisation’s slogan, “Hum Hai Na”, reminding them daily of their duty to serve the people. He emphasised that true service is measured by the impact employees make whether by assisting those in need or addressing issues.

The minister further encouraged to increase pension coverage with a focus on enhancing last mile delivery of services. He called on EPFO’s officers and staff to uphold the highest standards of integrity, dedication, empathy and professionalism in their service to members. “Continuous skill enhancement and capacity-building efforts within the organisation are paramount to adapting to evolving challenges and improving service delivery,” said the minister. Meanwhile, the number of contributing members to the EPFO has risen by 7.6 per cent to 7.37 crore in 2023-24 from 6.85 crore in 202-2023 while the number of establishments making contributions to the organisation has risen by 6.6 per cent to 7.66 lakh during this period.

The EPFO also saw an increase of 55.4 per cent to Rs 5,268 crore in realising arrear dues compared to the corresponding figure of Rs 3,390 crore in the previous year. There was also an increase of 7.8 per cent in the number of claims settled over the previous year (4.45 crore from 412.86 crore). The Executive Committee recommended the report for adoption to the Central Board, the press statement added.

—IANS

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The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Sunday said it added 18.53 lakh net members in the month of August, a 9.07 per cent year-on-year growth compared to August 2023.

The EPFO enrolled around 9.30 lakh new members in August, representing an increase of 0.48 per cent in the new members from the previous year in August 2023.

The Ministry of Labour and Employment said this signifies increased employment opportunities and heightened awareness of employee benefits, bolstered by the EPFO’s effective outreach initiatives.

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

According to the ministry, a noticeable aspect of the data is the dominance of the 18-25 age group, which constituted a significant 59.26 percent of the total new members added in August 2024.

In addition, the net payroll data for the age group 18-25 for August 2024 is 8.06 lakh. “This is in consonance with the earlier trend which indicates that most individuals joining the organised workforce are youth, primarily first-time job seekers,” said the ministry.

Approximately 13.54 lakh members exited and rejoined the EPFO – a YoY growth of 14.03 per cent compared to August 2023.

The EPFO added around 2.53 lakh new female members, a year-over-year growth of 3.75 percent. The net female member addition during the month stood at around 3.79 lakh.

The surge in female member additions is indicative of a broader shift towards a more inclusive and diverse workforce. Top five states/UTs constitute around 59.17 per cent of net member addition, adding a total around 10.97 lakh net members during the month.

Of all the states, Maharashtra led by adding 20.59 per cent of net members. Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Delhi, Gujarat, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh individually added more than 5 per cent of the total net members during the month.

–IANS

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The provisional payroll data of EPFO released today highlights that EPFO has added around 15.41 lakh net subscribers during the month of September 2021. For the month of September 2021, the net subscriber additions have increased by 1.81 lakh as compared to the previous month of August 2021 when it was 13.60 lakh.

Out of the total 15.41 lakh net subscribers, around 8.95 lakh new members have been registered under the provisions of EPF & MP Act, 1952 for the first time. Around 6.46 lakh net subscribers exited but rejoined EPFO by changing jobs within the establishments covered under the purview of EPF & MP Act, 1952, thereby opting to continue their membership with EPFO by transferring their funds instead of opting for final withdrawal.

Age-wise comparison of payroll data shows that the age-group of 22-25 years has registered highest number of net enrolments with 4.12 lakh additions during September, 2021. This is followed by age-group of 18-21 with around 3.18 lakh net enrolments. This indicates that many first-time job seekers are joining organised sector workforce in large numbers and have contributed around 47.39 % of total net subscriber additions in September, 2021.

State-wise comparison of payroll figures highlights that the establishments covered in the states of Maharashtra, Haryana, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are in lead by adding approximately 9.41 lakh subscribers during the month, which is around 61 % of total net payroll addition across all age groups.

Gender-wise analysis indicates that the net share of female enrolment during the month is around 3.27 lakh. Month on month comparison shows that the net addition of female subscribers has increased roughly by 0.60 lakh during in the month of September in comparison to the previous month of August, 2021 when 2.67 lakh net subscribers were added into the payroll. This is largely due to lower female member exits during the month.

Industry-wise payroll data indicates that ‘expert services’ category (consisting of manpower agencies, private security agencies and small contractors etc.) constitutes 41.22% of total subscriber addition during the month. Apart from this, growing trend in net payroll additions has been noted in industries like trading-commercial establishments, engineering products, building & construction, textiles, garment making, hospitals and financing establishments.

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 May-2018, EPFO has been releasing payroll data covering the period September 2017 onwards.

EPFO is a social security organization responsible for providing a number of social security benefits to the members covered under the purview of EPF & MP Act, 1952. EPFO reaffirms its vision to be an innovation driven social security organisation aiming to ensure uninterrupted service delivery to its stakeholders.

(Published from PIB)

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The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave its approval for Atmanirbhar Bharat RojgarYojana (ABRY) to boost employment in formal sector and incentivize creation of new employment opportunities during the Covid recovery phase under Atmanirbhar Bharat Package 3.0.

Cabinet has approved an expenditure of ₹1,584 crore for the current financial year and ₹22,810 crore for the entire Scheme period i.e. 2020-2023.

Government of India will provide subsidy for two years in respect of new employees engaged on or after 1^st October, 2020 and upto 30th June, 2021.

Government of India will pay both 12% employees’ contribution and 12% employers’ contribution i.e.  24% of wages towards EPF in respect of new employees in establishments employing upto 1000 employees for two years,

The Central government will pay only employees’ share of EPF contribution i.e. 12% of wages in respect of new employees in establishments employing more than 1000 employee for two years.

An employee drawing monthly wage of less than ₹15000/- who was not working in any establishment registered with the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) before 1st October, 2020 and did not have a Universal Account Number or EPF Member account number prior to 1^stOctober 2020 will be eligible for the benefit,

Any EPF member possessing Universal Account Number (UAN) drawing monthly wage of less than ₹15000/- who made exit from employment during Covid pandemic from 01.03.2020 to 30.09.2020 and did not join employment in any EPF covered establishment up to 30.09.2020 will also be eligible to avail benefit,

EPFO will credit the contribution in Aadhaar seeded account of members in electronic manner.

EPFO shall develop a software for the scheme and also develop a procedure which is transparent and accountable at their end.

EPFO shall work out modality to ensure that there is no overlapping of benefits provided under ABRY with any other scheme implemented by EPFO.

(Published from PIB)

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