E-Paper
April payroll additions fall to lowest in ten months
The fall in new enrolments were primarily due to muted job opportunities for the 18-25 age group
At least 689,403 new people joined the formal workforce in April, the lowest in 10 months, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation’s (EPFO’s) provisional payroll data showed on Sunday.
The slowdown in the jobs creation data shows the impact of the second wave of the pandemic. In March, 716,223 people had joined the workforce. The number of new EPFO subscribers in February was at 807,482, while in January 883,392 people had joined the formal workforce, the payroll data showed.
New payroll additions were lower in June 2020 compared to April, following the Covid-19 outbreak in India, at 577,832.
The fall in new enrolments were primarily due to muted job opportunities for the 18-25 age group. While the 26-28 and 29-34 age groups witnessed a marginal dip in new jobs growth, those older than 35 years witnessed nominal growth, compared with March. While 398,516 new workers in the 18-25 age group joined the workforce in March, in April the number was 370,895.
Experts said fresh payroll additions in May could decline further, as daily Covid infections had slowed economic activity for most of April and May in India.
