62.38 lakh jobs created till November in FY20: EPFO

Net employment generation in the formal sector stood at 11.62 lakh in November 2019, shows data released by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Wednesday. As per the latest data, 4.03 lakh jobs were created in the same month last year, while 6.48 lakh EPF subscribers were added in October 2019. However, the data is provisional and EPFO revises the data every month. As per trend, the numbers are usually lowered.

Around 1.39 crore new subscribers were added to social security schemes of the EPFO from September 2017 to November 2019, the data showed. This indicates that these many jobs were created in the formal sector over the past 27 months. Of this, 15.53 lakh jobs were created between September 2017 and March 2018. A net of 61.12 lakh jobs were created in FY19, while 62.38 lakh jobs have been created in current fiscal till November 2019.

The average job creation as per the EPFO payroll stands at 5.14 lakh a month, after falling for the last two months.

In the month of November 2019, maximum 3.09 lakh jobs were created in the age group 22-25, followed by 2.98 lakh jobs in the age group 18-21. In the age group 29-35, 2.08 lakh jobs were created and 1.9 lakh jobs in above 35 age group. In the age group 26-28, a total of 1.47 lakh jobs were created, followed by 8,023 in below 18 age group.

In 2019-20, the highest number of 11.6 lakh net jobs was created during the month of November, while the least number of 4.73 lakh jobs was created in May, as per the EPFO data.

EPFO said the data is provisional as updation of employee records is a continuous process. In the currect fiscal a total downward revision of 4.89 lakh jobs have been made, as per the latest EPFO release. The highest downward revision has been made in the month of July (94,889 jobs) followed by October (91,415 jobs) and September (80,686 jobs).

Recently, SBI in its Ecowrap report said that, the slow pace of economic growth will have a direct impact on the payroll creation resulting in at least 16 lakh fewer jobs during 2019-20.

While EPFO has been providing information on new workforce since April 2018, it has been covering the period starting September 2017. The estimates may include temporary employees whose contributions may not be continuous for the entire year. The EPFO manages social security funds of workers in the organised and semi-organised sector in India and has more than 6 crore active members.