Formal Work Additions In October At 5-Month Low: EPFO Data

Around 7,56,939 people joined formal work for the first time in October 2021, the lowest in five-months, according to the payroll data released by the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Monday.

The new additions in payroll in October is around 1,92,000 less than the new additions made in September 2021, as per the data, which had stood at 9,49,081, thus indicating sluggishness in job creation.

In August and July, new payroll addition numbers were 9,80,954 and 9,76,630, respectively. In June, soon after the outbreak of the second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic, EPFO data showed 8,80,778 new additions.

In the current fiscal, new payroll addition in October is the lowest in five months. The only month that reported lesser new payroll additions than October was May 2021, when the EPFO had added 6,43,507 new subscribers.

The payroll numbers hint at the stretch in the labour market, and underlined the softening of the pace of new job creations in the formal sector.

EPFO data, however, showed that nearly 12.73 lakh net payroll additions were reported in October, which is also less than the net additions clocked in September, when EPFO had recorded13.97 lakh net additions.