Net new female staff additions under EPFO rise 120 per cent to 2.8 million

New Delhi: India witnessed a surge in formal job creation for women since 2018-19 with net new addition of female employees under the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) more than doubling in the last five years as companies become more inclusive and move towards greater gender parity.

The payroll data for EPFO showed net new addition of female workers under the retirement fund body soared 120% to 2.8 million female employees in 2022-23 from 1.30 million added in 2018-19.

The number of female employees added to EPFO in 2019-20 stood at 1.59 million but fell marginally to 1.39 million in 2020-21, due to the outbreak of the pandemic. However, it rebounded sharply to 2.61 million in 2021-22.


Further, the e-Shram portal, dedicated to registration and creation of a comprehensive national database for unorganized workers, has about 53% women unorganised workers registering on the portal, according to labour ministry data.

Labour and employment minister Bhupender Yadav told ET that the net addition in EPFO subscriptions is an indicator of the extent of formalisation of the job market for women and the coverage of social security benefits to the organised and semi- organised sector workforce. "The government has taken various steps to improve women's participation in the labour force, to ensure their economic security and quality of their employment and it's a continuing process."