Job market in India is starting to show the effects of the second wave of the COVID19 pandemic. Job creation fell to the lowest in 10 months in April 2021. As per the provisional payroll data released by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), around 6, 89,403 new people joined the formal workforce in the month of April.
This was the lowest addition in 10 months. Experts believe that this is effect of the second wave of the pandemic and the data for May and subsequent months could be worse. However, in terms of net subscribers, EPFO has added around 12.76 lakh net subscribers during April 2021 reflecting an increase of 13.73%.
Apart from the 6.89 lakh new members who came into the social security coverage of EPFO for the first time, around 5.86 lakh net subscribers exited and then rejoined EPFO by changing their jobs within the establishments covered by EPFO. Both these put together there was a net addition of 12.76 lakh subscribers.
Age-wise data shows that the age-group of 22-25 years registered highest number of net enrollments with around 3.27 lakh additions during the month of April, 2021. The age-group of 29-35 saw second highest net additions with around 2.72 lakh net enrollments. The 18-25 age-group which is considered the first-time job seekers, net subscriber addition saw a rise of 43.35% in April, 2021.