Good news for first-time job seekers! EPFO Feb payroll numbers show more jobs for youth in this age group
In a positive sign for the country’s formal jobs market, EPFO’s provisional payroll data for February 2024 showed that over 56% of the overall new members enrolled were first-time job seekers in the age group of 18-25, official data released on Saturday showed.
Overall, the Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) added 15.48 lakh net members during the month against 16 lakh in January 2024, a drop of 3.4%.
It should be noted that net monthly payroll numbers are provisional and get revised often the very next month. Due to this, new EPF subscriber numbers are perceived as more reliable than net jobs added.
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The EPFO saw a 3.7% fall in new monthly subscribers’ addition in February to EPF at 7.77 lakh from 8.07 lakh in January 2024.
“The data indicates that around 7.78 lakh new members have been enrolled during February, 2024. A noticeable aspect of the data is the dominance of the 18-25 age group, constituting a significant 56.36% of the total new members added in February 2024 indicating the majority of individuals joining the organized workforce are youth, primarily first-time job seekers,” the release said.
The payroll data highlights that approximately 11.78 lakh members exited and subsequently rejoined EPFO.
These members switched their jobs and re-joined the establishments covered under the ambit of EPFO and opted to transfer their accumulations instead of applying for final settlement thus, safeguarding long-term financial well-being and extending their social security protection.
Gender-wise analysis of payroll data unveils that out of 7.78 lakh new members, around 2.05 lakh are new female members.
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