According to data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) about 14.62 lakh, new members joined the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) social security scheme in August 2022.

44 lakh new members were added in 2021-22 in comparison to 2020-21. The total number of ESIC members was 1.49 in 2021-22, 1.15 crore in 2020-21, 1.51 crore in 2019-20, and 1.49 crore in 2018-19.

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The latest data is part of a report Payroll Reporting in India: An Employment Perspective – August 2022. 

The report said gross new enrolments with ESIC from September 2017 to July 2022 were 7.22 crore.

The NSO report is based on the payroll data of new subscribers of various social security schemes run by ESIC, the Employees‘ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).

Subsequently, a total of 986,850 people subscribed to employee provident fund during the month of August, an 11 per cent decline in comparison to the previous month, data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on Tuesday showed.

16.94 lakh members were enrolled with the retirement fund body EPFO in July 2022.

From September 2017 till August 2022, a total of 5,81,56,630 new subscribers joined the EPF scheme, data showed.

While 37,85,101 new subscribers joined and contributed to the NPS Central Government, State Governments, and Corporate schemes from September 2017 to August 2022, the report said.

According to the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, firms with more than 20 employees must provide workers with subscriptions to the retirement fund manager. New subscribers to the EPFO can therefore be taken as a proxy for job creation in the labor market.

The report said since the number of subscribers is from various sources, there are elements of overlap, and the estimates are not additive.

NSO also said the report gives different perspectives on the levels of employment in the formal sector and does not measure employment at a holistic level.

Since April 2018 the Ministry has been bringing out employment-related statistics in the formal sector covering the period September 2017 onwards, using the information on the number of subscribers who have subscribed under three major schemes — the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) Scheme, the Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) Scheme and the National Pension Scheme (NPS).