The situation for formal employment got a big boost in April 2025 when there was a net addition of 19.14 lacs in members in the EPF Organization. There was a 31.31% jump compared to March 2025 and just about 1.17% more than April 2024, indicating that the formal inclusion of the workforce in the country is on the rise.
The provisional payroll dataset churned out by the Ministry of Labour and Employment highlights two very encouraging trends: increased female participation and the predominance of youth recruitment continuing.
Out of the total new subscribers, around 8.49 lakh were genuine new subscriptions, registering a 12.49% growth over the previous month. An interesting thing that stands out in the new subscriber base is the high percentage of young persons.
Members in the age group 18-25 years made up 57.67% of the total number of new subscribers, thereby adding 4.89 lakh new members. This trend is cast in the same mold as the ongoing trend of youth, mainly first-timers, entering the organized sector and getting social security benefits in the name of EPFO.
On the other hand, a net payroll addition of approximately 7.58 lakhs kept this age group at a healthy rate of 13.60% on a month-on-month basis.
Female work participation shall go hand in hand with the trend. New female subscribers to EPFO were nearly 2.45 lakhs, marking a 17.63% increase over the previous month in April 2025. Female net payroll additions that month were more impressive at around 3.95 lakhs, soaring 35.24% on a month-on-month basis. This arises as an indication of the road to an inclusive and mixed ecosystem where formal employment and long-term financial security are offered to many women.
Rejoiners went really well: around 15.77 lakhs of members exited previously and then again subscribed to EPFO in April. This 19.19% rise over March 2025 suggests a maturing workforce where individuals choose to transfer provident fund accumulations on changing jobs instead of settling them.
This acts as a further indication of the awareness building up on longer-term financial benefits and the desire for continued social security protection.
In the payroll number analysis at the State-level, the Top Five States/UTs together contributed around 60.10 per cent, and about 11.50 lakh of net payroll additions were worked on. Maharashtra served as the leader, accounting for 21.12 per cent of the net payroll in the month aforesaid.
Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Telangana were other contributors, eradicating 5 per cent or more of the net payroll.
The Ministry attributed the total increase in membership to various factors that include growing employment opportunities, awareness regarding employee benefits, and effective publicity of EPFO. These provisional data, which have been issued monthly since April 2018, are based on UAN-linked records and thus provide a constantly changing perspective on employment patterns in the organized sector in India.