It is now revealed that EPFO has enrolled 19.50 lakh new subscribers to its payroll in the month of May this year—the highest-ever monthly enrollment achieved since it started to issue payroll data in April 2018. Subscribers added during May this year stood at 19.50 lakh, registering an increase of 19.62 per cent over May 2023.
The reasons for this increased membership have been more job opportunities, better awareness accruable benefits to employees and more importantly efficient enrollment drives by EPFO. Net new additions in May 2024 were 9.85 lakh, a growth of 10.96 per cent over April 2024 and an increase of 11.5 per cent from May 2023.
This culminates with the supremacy of the 18-25-year age bracket that accounts for as high as 58.37 per cent of all new members in the review for May 2024 alone. It would indicate a trend foreshadowing the dominance of the youth within the structured workforce—most of whom are entering employment for the first time.
The payroll data further reveal that about 14.09 lakh members exited and re-joined the EPFO-covered establishments. Clearly, movement has increased by 23.47 percent over May 2023, indicating a preference amongst members to opt for transfer of accumulations rather than going for final settlement, thereby long-term financial stability and social security.
Gender-wise provisional payroll data indicate that approximately 2.48 lakh new female members joined EPFO in May 2024, which is 12.15 percent higher than the corresponding month in May 2023. More important is that the net addition of female members during the month was about 3.69 lakh, which is 17.24 percent higher than the corresponding month of the previous year, thus clearly indicating a very positive trend toward inclusiveness and diversity in the workforce.
Geographically, while Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Haryana have been the top five States/UTs in terms of maximum net member addition, all of them together have added 58.24 percent of the total number of new members during the month. Maharashtra led the pack with 18.87 percent of the net members.
The figures in that respect underline strong growth in EPFO membership, driven by demographic shifts, economic opportunity, and proactive policy actions taken toward enhancing social security and financial well-being among the workforce of India.
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