New Delhi:
The economy created around 5.2 crore new formal jobs between FY20 and FY23, with the net addition reaching 2.7 crore, according to a report based on an analysis of EPFO, NPS and ESIC data.
The government has been releasing monthly payroll data from the Employees Provident Fund Organization or EPFO, the National Pension Scheme or NPS and the Employees State Insurance Corporation or the ESIC since April 2018, based on the recommendations of the Ghosh & Ghosh report.
The EPFO payroll data trends for the last four years show that the net addition of new EPF subscribers during FY20-23 was Rs 4.86 crore, which consists of new payrolls (first payroll), second payrolls (reconnected/re-enrolled members) and formalized payrolls. Accordingly, the net new wage bill (first job/new job), adjusted for rejoined/re-enrolled members and formalization (based on ECR data), shows that the actual net new wage bill was Rs 2.27 crore during FY20-23, said SBI Research. in a report Tuesday.
Of this, the first jobs constituted 47 percent of the total net new wage addition and the second jobs (the outgoing members who rejoined and resubscribed) amounted to Rs 2.17 crore during these four years. This means that the net increase in formalization during these years was Rs 42 lakh, said the report written by SBI Chief Economic Advisor Soumyakanti Ghosh.
Looking at the trend in the EPFO payroll data for the first quarter of FY24, it is encouraging as there are 44 lakh net new EPF subscribers, of which the first payroll was 19.2 lakh. If the trend continues for the rest of FY24, the net new wage bill will cross the Rs 160 lakh mark, which will be the highest ever with the initial wage bill in the range of Rs 70-80 lakh.
NPS data shows that there are 8.24 lakh new subscribers in FY23, of which state government payrolls stood at 4.64 lakh, followed by non-government jobs of 2.30 lakh and 1.29 in central government.
About 31 lakh new subscribers have joined the NPS in the last four years. That means the total payroll generation from EPFO and NPS cumulatively stood at over Rs 5.2 crore during FY20-23, Ghosh said.
The report also notes a significant decline in the revision of the number of members who rejoined or re-enrolled in the first quarter of the current fiscal year. This would mean that more people could decide to stay at their current job. Moreover, the share of women’s wages was approximately 27 percent.
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