EPFO net new Enrollments rise 29% to 78.58 lakh in FY21

Net new enrolments with retirement fund body EPFO rose by 28.60 per cent to 78.58 lakh during the financial year 2019-20 compared to 61.1 lakh in the last fiscal, according to the Economic Survey 2021, which also provided a perspective on formal sector employment amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Daily Current Affairs Quiz 2021

The country saw the nearly 29 Central Labour laws being amalgamated, rationalized and simplified into four labour codes viz. the Code on Wages, 2019, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 and the Code on Social Security, 2020.

COVID-19 has exposed the vulnerability of urban casual workers, who account for 11.2 per cent of urban workforce (All-India) as per Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), January-March, 2020.

The size of labour force in 2018-19 was estimated at about 51.8 crore persons: about 48.8 crore employed and 3.0 crore unemployed.

Industry-wise estimates on workforce shows that the largest, about 21.5 crore persons are employed in ‘Agriculture’, which is still the largest employer with 42.5 per cent of workforce.

Next important industry is ‘other services’ where about 6.4 crore persons (13.8 per cent) were engaged.

‘Manufacturing’ and ‘Trade, hotel & restaurants’ each employed about 5.9 crore persons with the share of nearly 12.1 per cent and 12.6 per cent respectively, while ‘Construction’ sector employed about 5.7 crore persons in 2018-19 with share of 12.1 per cent.