The number of monthly fresh formal hirings declined for the third straight month in February, signalling further deterioration in the formal labour markets. The number of new monthly subscribers under the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) decreased by nearly 10 per cent to 739,000 in February from 823,000 in January, according to the latest monthly payroll data released by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Monday.

       The EPFO data is considered crucial as it reflects the state of the formal labour market and only the formal workforce enjoys social security benefits and are protected by labour laws.

       In February last year, a total of 777,700 new subscribers had joined the EPF.

       Of the total 739,000 new EPF subscribers in February this year, the share of young people belonging to the 18-25 age group increased slightly to 57.7 per cent (427,000) from 57.07 per cent (470,000) in the preceding month. This is crucial because subscribers in this age group are usually first-timers in the labour market, thus reflecting its robustness.

       Meanwhile, the share of women among the new subscribers increased to 28.14 per cent (208,000) from 25.62 per cent (217,000) in January.

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       Meanwhile, the net payroll additions — calculated by taking into account the number of new subscribers, the number of subscribers that exited, and the return of old subscribers to the social security organisation — stood at 1.61 million in February.

       The Labour ministry also said that payroll data highlights that approximately 1.32 million members exited and subsequently rejoined EPFO in February, which depicts a significant year-over-year growth of 11.9 per cent compared to February 2024.

       “These members switched their jobs and re-joined the establishments covered under the ambit of EPFO and opted to transfer their accumulations instead of applying for final settlement thus safeguarding long-term financial well-being and extending their social security protection.,” the labour ministry said in a statement.

       The net monthly payroll numbers are, however, provisional in nature and are often revised sharply the following month. That is why the new EPF subscriber figure is considered more reliable than net additions.

       “The above payroll data is provisional since data generation is a continuous exercise, as updating employee records is a continuous process. The previous data gets updated,” it said.

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