New Delhi: Payroll data released by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation has revealed a fall in the number of first-time members of the EPFO, signifying new lows in the formal job creation market.
Financial Express reports that the number of first-time members of the EPFO had fallen to its lowest in the financial year of 2023 in February. This comes as employers have been cautious about new hirings, considering a brewing economic slowdown.
The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy said in March that the unemployment rate in India increased to 7.45% in February 2023 from 7.14% in January 2023. There are now over 33 million unemployed people in the country.
Business Standard finds that fresh formal job creation declined sequentially for the third straight month in February and has now hit a 21-month low. This spells significant doom for the employment market in the country.
Economic Times has also arrived at the same conclusion on formal job creation falling.
The data cited by FE revealed that 0.73 million first-time entrants joined the scheme in February, a number about 10% lower than 0.81 million fresh subscribers in January.
This is reportedly the lowest number since May 2021, when 649,618 people had newly subscribed to the fund.
The FE report notes that the number of new EPFO members has been on a declining trend and below the 1 million mark since October 2022.
These numbers are usually revised, the reports note.