The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has made a net addition of 13.41 lakh members during October, reflecting the increased employment and higher awareness of employee benefits among workers, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Labour and Employment on Wednesday.

The EPFO enrolled around 7.50 lakh new members in October out of which a significant 58.49 per cent were in the young 18-25 age group. The net number for this dominant age group is 5.43 lakhs. This is in consonance with the earlier trend which indicates that most individuals joining the organized workforce are youth, primarily first-time job seekers, indicating the increasing employment opportunities in the economy.

The payroll data highlights that approximately 12.90 lakh members exited and subsequently rejoined EPFO. This figure depicts year-over-year growth of 16.23 per cent, compared to October 2023. 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.

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

Also, the net female member addition during the month stood at around 2.79 lakh. The increase in female member additions is indicative of a broader shift towards a more inclusive and diverse workforce, the official statement said.

A state-wise analysis of payroll data shows that net member addition in the top five states/ UTs constitutes around 61.32 per cent of net member addition, adding a total of around 8.22 lakh net members during the month. Maharashtra is the leading state with the addition of 22.18 per cent of net members during the month. The states/UTs of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Haryana, Telangana, and Gujarat individually added more than 5 per cent of the total net members during the month.

A month-on-month comparison of industry-wise data displays significant growth in the members working in establishments engaged in industries such as road motor transport, electronic media companies, banks other than nationalised banks etc. The payroll data is provisional since data generation is a continuous exercise and updating employees’ records is a continuous process, the statement added.