Formal job creation slows down in January, EPFO data reveals

The formal labor market witnessed a slowdown in January, with a notable decrease in the creation of new jobs, according to the latest data released by the Employee Provident Fund Organisation or EPFO.

The data revealed a decline of nearly 4% in the number of new monthly subscribers under the Employees’ Provident Fund or EPF, dropping from 840,584 in December 2023 to 807,865 in January 2024.

Comparatively, in January last year, 830,047 subscribers joined the EPF. Among the total new EPF subscribers in January, the proportion of young individuals aged 18-28 also witnessed a slight decrease, falling from 67.17% in the previous month to 66.4%.

Retirement fund body EPFO added a net 16.02 lakh subscribers in January 2024, according to payroll data released on Sunday.

Around 8.08 lakh members were enrolled for the first time in January 2024, a labour ministry statement said on Sunday.

The Employees'' Provident Fund Organization's (EPFO) provisional payroll highlighted that the EPFO has added 16.02 lakh members on a net basis in January 2024, the ministry said.

A noticeable aspect of the data is the dominance of the 18-25 age group, constituting a significant 56.41 per cent of the total new members added in January 2024 indicating the majority of individuals joining the organized workforce are youth, primarily first-time job seekers.

The payroll data highlighted that approximately 12.17 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, it stated.