Amidst a slew of layoffs in tech companies and start-ups, the number of first-time members joining the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) declined by 14.5% on a sequential basis to 0.8 million in December 2022 from 0.93 million members in November 2022.
Payroll data released by the EPFO on Monday revealed that December was the third consecutive month when the number of first-time members joining the social security scheme remained below the 1 million mark. It is also lower than the average 1 million new workers that joined the scheme this fiscal.
The initial numbers are often revised as was also the case with the November data. First time members joining the EPFO in November 2022 was revised upwards from the initial estimate of 0.89 million members.
The government uses the EPFO payroll data as a high frequency measure for formal sector job creation in the economy. The number of new members joining the scheme started to slow down from August 2022 after hitting a high of 1.16 million in July last year.
However, recent data from other sources has also indicated some slowdown in formal job creation as companies have become more cautious about expansion amidst an expected economic slowdown. New flexi staffing jobs grew at its slowest pace in 10 quarters by 0.8% on a sequential basis in the quarter ended December 2022, according to a recent report by the Indian Staffing Federation.
According to a labour ministry release on the payroll data for December, among the newly joined members, highest enrolment was registered in the age-group of 18-21 years with 0.24 million members, followed by the age-group of 22-25 years with 0.21 million members. “The age-groups of 18-25 years constitutes 55.64% of total of new members during the month. This indicates that majority of the members joining EPFO are first-time job seekers who are joining organised sector workforce of the country,” it said.
State-wise payroll figures highlight that top five states in terms of net member addition are Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka, Haryana. These states together added 60.08% of net member addition during December 2022.