EPFO membership rises in October led by 18-25-year-olds; women join to lead the pack: Payroll data

The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) registered a net addition of 13.41 lakh members in October 2024. According to the latest provisional payroll data released by the Ministry of Labour and Employment on Wednesday, December 25, 2024, the retirement fund body EPFO enrolled as many as 7.50 lakh new members during the month under review.

A significant highlight of the data is the dominance of the 18-25 age group, which accounts for 58.49 per cent of the total new members added during October. In October, the net payroll data for the 18-25 age group stood at 5.43 lakh. This aligns with earlier trends, which indicate that most people joining the organised workforce are young, or first-time job seekers.

Also Read: EPFO membership surges with 1.34 million net additions in October

EPFO membership data trends in October

The payroll data also reveals that approximately 12.90 lakh members exited and rejoined EPFO. This reflects a 16.23 per cent year-on-year growth compared to October 2023. These members switched their jobs and rejoined the establishments covered under EPFO's ambit. They opted to transfer their accumulations instead of applying for final settlement, safeguarding long-term financial well-being and extending their social security protection.

Gender-wise analysis of payroll data reveals that of the new members added during the month, around 2.09 lakhs are new female members. This figure exhibits a year-on-year growth of 2.12 per cent compared to October 2023.

Also Read: EPFO adds 1.85 million net members in August

Also, the number of female members added during the month stood at around 2.79 lakh. The increase in female member additions indicates a broader shift towards a more inclusive and diverse workforce.

State-wise analysis of payroll data denotes that net member addition in the top five states/ UTs constitutes around 61.32 per cent of net member addition, adding around 8.22 lakh net members during the month. 

Of all the states, Maharashtra is leading with 22.18 per cent of net members added during the month. The states/UTs of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Haryana, Telangana, and Gujarat individually added more than five per cent of the total net members during the month.

Also Read: EPFO extends deadline for UAN activation, linking bank account to Aadhaar for ELI scheme benefits to Jan 15

A month-on-month comparison of industry-wise data displays significant growth in the members working in establishments engaged in the industries—road motor transport, electronic media companies in the private sector, and banks other than nationalised banks, among others. Out of the total net membership, around 42.29 per cent is added from expert services (consisting of manpower suppliers, contractors, security services, etc.).

The previous data gets updated every month. From April 2018, EPFO has been releasing payroll data covering the period from September 2017 onwards. In monthly payroll data, the count of members joining EPFO for the first time through an Aadhaar-validated Universal Account Number (UAN), existing members exiting from coverage of EPFO, and those who exited but rejoined as members is taken to arrive at net monthly payroll.