Formal job creation picked up for the first four months of the FY25, according to data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on September 25.

New subscriptions to all three social security schemes were higher for the first four months, as there was a further pickup in job creation.

New subscriptions to the Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme increased by 1 percent in the first four months to 4.11 million compared with 4.07 million. The lower remunerative scheme, like the Employees' State Insurance Corporation, witnessed a more significant increase of 4.6 percent to 6.26 million compared with 5.97 million compared with a similar period in FY24.

Subscriptions to the National Pension System rose 19 percent to 317,424 compared with 256,316 in April-July 2023.

However, in the case of NPS, the rise was primarily due to a 26 percent increase in state and central government subscriptions.

On the other hand, employment in the private sector declined by 8.9 percent.

Women lose out on formal employment

The increase in the EPF scheme was largely due to the fall in new female subscribers, even as male formal employment was down 0.9 percent.

New enrollments in the ESIC scheme were also much higher for women than for their male counterparts. The share of women in ESIC’s new enrollments increased to 21.8 percent in April-July 2024, compared with 21 percent in 2023.

The increase was much starker in EPF to 27.8 percent in 2024 from 26.5 percent.