EPFO adds 16.99 lakh net members during month of August 2023

EPFO’s provisional payroll data released today highlights that EPFO has added 16.99 lakh net members in the month of August, 2023. Year-on-year comparison of payroll data reflects a marginal increase in net members over the previous year of August, 2022.

According to the data, 3,210 establishments provided EPFO social security coverage to their employees by remitting their first ECR during the month.

The data indicates that around 9.26 lakh new members have enrolled during August, 2023. Among the newly joined members, the age-group of 18-25 years constitutes 58.36% of total new members added during the month. This indicates that most of the first-time job seekers are youth joining organised sector workforce in large numbers.

Payroll data show that approximately 11.88 lakh members left and rejoined EPFO in August 2022, representing a 10.13% increase over the previous year. These members changed jobs and re-joined EPFO-covered establishments, opting to transfer their accumulations rather than applying for final settlement, thereby extending their social security protection. According to the data, the number of EPFO members leaving the organisation has been steadily decreasing over the last two months.

As per gender analysis of payroll data, approximately 2.44 lakh of the total 9.26 lakh new members added during the month are new female members joining EPFO for the first time. Furthermore, the proportion of net female member additions during the month was approximately 3.43 lakh.

State-wise analysis of payroll data denotes that in terms of net member addition the top 5 states are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana and Gujarat. These states collectively enrolled 9.96 lakh members during the month which constitute around 58.64% of net members addition.

Data from across India show that trading-commercial establishments, building & construction, engineer-engineering contractors, textiles, and so on have the highest membership. Expert services (manpower suppliers, regular contractors, security services, miscellaneous activities, etc.) account for approximately 39.87% of total net membership.

The above payroll data is provisional because data generation is a continuous exercise, just as updating employee records is. As a result, previous data is updated once a month. EPFO has been releasing payroll data for the period September 2017 to April 2018 since April 2018.

In monthly payroll data, the count of members joining EPFO for the first time via Aadhaar validated Universal Account Number (UAN), existing members leaving EPFO coverage, and those who left but rejoined as members is used to calculate net monthly payroll.