Formal job creation up in January; EPFO sees 1.52 million new subscriber addition

The payroll data by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation, released on Friday, shows net new subscriber addition under the EPFO stood at 1.52 million in January 2022, 20.6% more than 1.26 million added in December 2021.

Net new subscribers under Employees State Insurance Corporation, however, fell by 16.2% in January at 1.28 million as against 1.53 million added in December 2021.

The National Pension Scheme also witnessed a dip of 10.4% with 64,998 new subscribers in January compared to 72,578 new subscribers added to it in December 2021.

As per the report, 1.04 million male subscribers were added to ESIC while 0.23 female subscribers were added to ESIC.

Of the total 1.52 million net subscribers added to EPFO during the month, around 0.86 million new members have been registered under the social security ambit of EPF & MP Act, 1952 for the first time and approximately 0.66 million net subscribers exited but re-joined EPFO by continuing their membership with EPFO instead of opting for final withdrawal.

Under NPS, maximum subscriber addition in January was from state government employees at 38,524 followed by central government employees (13,421) and 13,053 from the non-government or corporate sector.

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 Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). It has been releasing such data of these bodies since April 2018, covering the period starting from September 2017.

The report, titled ‘Payroll Reporting in India: An Employment Perspective – November 2021’, 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.