Formal employment additions drop in August

New enrolments to the government's three social security schemes declined in August, suggesting slower growth in formal employment that month, provisional data released on Wednesday showed.

The slowdown was much more pronounced in higher-paying jobs, as new enrolments in the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) Scheme declined 13.3% to 925,984 in August, the lowest level so far this fiscal year, compared with 1.07 million in July.

However, net subscriptions to the EPF scheme, which also counts people who have exited the workforce and those who have rejoined, were at the highest level at 1.7 million since the start of the year.


Trends indicate that net subscription data is usually revised downwards as the extent of exits from the EPF scheme gets an upward revision. In August, 414,562 people ceased to be EPF members, more than half the average of 1 million between April and July 2023.

New subscribers to Employees' State Insurance Corporation declined at a slower rate of 4.3% to 1.44 million in August. ESI, which usually caters to lower-paying jobs, applies to establishments with over 10 workers, whereas EPF is applicable to establishments with over 20 workers.

Data released for another pension scheme, the National Pension Scheme, also indicated a decline in new enrolments to 71,228 in August from the peak of 76,372 achieved last month. While central government and state government enrolments increased, new subscriptions from the corporate sector more than halved to 13,829 in August.