New Delhi, Oct 20 (IANS): The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Sunday said it added 18.53 lakh net members in the month of August, a 9.07 per cent year-on-year growth compared to August 2023.

The EPFO enrolled around 9.30 lakh new members in August, representing an increase of 0.48 per cent in the new members from the previous year in August 2023.

This signifies increased employment opportunities and heightened awareness of employee benefits, bolstered by the EPFO’s effective outreach initiatives, said the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

The surge in new memberships can be attributed to growing employment opportunities, increased awareness of employee benefits, and the EPFO's successful outreach programmes.

According to the ministry, a noticeable aspect of the data is the dominance of the 18-25 age group, constituting a significant 59.26 per cent of the total new members added in August 2024.

In addition, the net payroll data for the age group 18-25 for August 2024 is 8.06 lakh.

"This is in consonance with the earlier trend which indicates that most individuals joining the organised workforce are youth, primarily first-time job seekers," said the ministry.

Approximately 13.54 lakh members exited and subsequently rejoined the EPFO - a YoY growth of 14.03 per cent compared to August 2023. The EPFO added around 2.53 lakh new female members - a year-over-year growth of 3.75 per cent.

Also, the net female member addition during the month stood at around 3.79 lakh. The surge in female member additions is indicative of a broader shift towards a more inclusive and diverse workforce.

Top five states/UTs constitute around 59.17 per cent of net member addition, adding a total around 10.97 lakh net members during the month. Of all the states, Maharashtra led by adding 20.59 per cent of net members. Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Delhi, Gujarat, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh individually added more than 5 per cent of the total net members during the month.