As many as 47.3 lakh new formal jobs were created in the first quarter of the ongoing financial year, shows the analysis of data put out by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). This was fueled mostly by a massive jump in new job creation in June, which was 25 per cent more than the number of jobs created in May. 18.36 lakh people found formal jobs in June alone.
While releasing the dataset earlier this month, the Ministry of Labour and Employment noted, "New member joining has shown a growing trend since April 2022." Acknowledging the jump in June, it also noted, "The new enrolment during the month is higher than the monthly average recorded during the last fiscal."
EPFO’s payroll data covers organised sector workforce for those establishments which employ more than 20 workers.
States with most jobs
In the first quarter of the fiscal, most job creation was seen in Maharashtra — 14.42 lakh, followed by Karnataka (8.2 lakh), Tamil Nadu (6.6 lakh), Haryana (5.9 lakh) and Gujarat (5.6 lakh). In fact, more than 86 per cent of the formal jobs in this period was created in these five States combined.
The younger ones were in demand in this period. Between April and June 2022, 80.4 per cent of the people newly employed fell in the 18-35 age bracket. Over 38 lakh people between the ages of 18 and 35 found formal employment in that period. People above 35 form only 19 per cent.
Maharashtra is the top employer for people of all age groups. It is followed by Karnataka in most age categories. However, Tamil Nadu created the second most number of jobs for people below 18 and for the ones above 35.
The data also says that most jobs are created in the expert services category, which consists of manpower agencies, private security agencies and small contractors. Over 20 lakh people got employed in this sector between April and June. It is then followed by Trading-Commercial establishments and engineering that employed 3.4 lakh and 2.27 lakh people, respectively.