Formalisation of economy picks up pace in June, spike in EPF subscribers

June had 1,283,448 EPF subscribers on a net basis, the highest in first three months of current fiscal and higher than average monthly figure of past three years

Formalisation of the economy gathered momentum in June with 1,283,448 people subscribing to employees' provident fund (EPF) on a net basis, the highest in the first three months of the current financial year. The figure is also higher than an average monthly figure in the previous three years. However, it should be noted that these figures are revised every month which makes comparison difficult. For instance, figures released in July showed that 919,772 people subscribed to EPF in May. This number, called net payroll data, is now revised downward to 774,809. Similarly the figures for April were revised down to 970,235 from earlier 1,100,145. It should be noted that the July figures were higher than even earlier figures of the previous two months. Experts caution against taking net payroll data as job data.