Employees Provident Fund Organisation’s (EPFO’s) provisional payroll data on Tuesday highlighted that retirement fund body has added 15.62 lakh net members in December 2023 which is the highest in the last three months.

According to the EPFO data, around 8.41 lakh new members have enrolled during December 2023. The new members’ addition shows an increase of 14.21 per cent when compared with the previous month of November.

An increase of 11.97 per cent has been registered in net member addition during the current month as compared to the previous month of November 2023.

The year on year analysis reveals a growth of 4.62 per cent in net member additions compared to December 2022. This surge in membership can be attributed to various factors, including increased employment opportunities, a growing awareness of employee benefits, and the effectiveness of EPFO’s outreach programmes.

A noticeable aspect of the data is the dominance of the 18-25 age group, constituting a significant 57.18 per cent of the total new members added in December. This statistic underscores a notable trend – the majority of individuals joining the organised workforce are youth, primarily first-time job seekers.

Approximately 12.02 lakh members exited and subsequently rejoined EPF representing a significant 12.61 per cent increase compared to the previous month of November 2023 and stands as the highest recorded in the past five months.

Gender-wise analysis of payroll data unveiled that out of 8.41 lakh new members, around 2.09 lakh are new female members. This figure marks the highest recorded addition of female workforce in the last three months.

The net female member addition during the month stood at around 2.90 lakh reflecting an increase of approximately 3.54 per cent compared to the previous month of November 2023.

As per the data, the net member addition is highest in the five states/UTs of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Haryana. These states constitute around 58.33 per cent of net member addition, adding a total of 9.11 lakh net members during the month.

Of all the states, Maharashtra is leading by adding 21.63 per cent of net members during the month.

Further, the month-on-month comparison of industry-wise data displays significant growth in the members working in establishments engaged in the industries including Iron and Steel, Building & construction and General Insurance.

Of the total net membership, around 40.66 per cent addition is from expert services consisting of manpower suppliers, normal contractors, security services and miscellaneous activities.