New formal job creation fell again in September, shows payroll data

The number of fresh formal jobs created fell for the second consecutive month in September, declining 9 per cent sequentially to 930,000, the latest payroll data released by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation on Sunday showed.

Enrolment of new female subscribers fell faster (11.39 per cent) than their male counterparts (8.13 per cent) in September, compared with the previous month.

Suchita Dutta, executive director, Indian Staffing Federation attributed the comparatively high rate of decline in new female subscribers to the firms insistence upon the employees to attend work in person. “Going forward, organisations have to be flexible and integrate different modes of working, so that the opportunities for women employees do not suffer disproportionately”, she added. 

According to the data released earlier by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) — which conducts its own survey —India did well on the employment front in September, as the unemployment rate declined to 6.4 per cent from 8.3 per cent in August, but this improvement was majorly on the back of rural areas that saw job creation in rural manufacturing, construction, mining and utilities,  the sort of establishments that may not be covered under EPFO.

   

Although the unemployment rate also declined in urban areas, this was due to a fall in the labour participation rate. “A smaller proportion of people were looking for work in September and that helped bring down the unemployment rate”, CMIE said in a statement.

Of the new EPF subscribers added in September, 548,567 subscribers are in the 18-25 age group, down 8.7 per cent from the 594,981 subscribers in August. This is crucial as subscribers in the 18-25 age group are seen as first-timers in the labour market, reflecting the robustness of the job market.  
 

The net monthly payroll numbers are provisional in nature and often revised sharply the following month. That is why the new EPF subscriber figure is accepted with more trust than net additions.

However, net payroll additions, which is calculated taking into account new additions, number of exits, and return of old subscribers, was pegged at 1,682,353 in September, up 9.4 per cent from 1,537,431 in August.