The number of new subscribers under the social security scheme run by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has risen steadily since May this year. The number of beneficiaries under the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) also remained at higher levels in recent months, indicating a modest recovery of the labour market.
The EPFO added 1.69 million net members in the month of August, 2022, up 14.4% on year, according to the provisional data. Over 1.46 million new members joined the ESIC-run social security scheme in August compared to 1.57 million in the previous month, according to data released on Tuesday.
Gross new enrolments with ESIC rose to 14.9 million in 2021-22, from 11.5 million in 2020-21. It was 15.1 million in 2019-20 and 14.9 million in 2018-19.
Gross new enrolments with ESIC from September 2017 to August 2022 were 72.2 million.
From September 2017 to August 2022, around 58.1 million (gross) new subscribers joined the Employees’ Provident Fund scheme. The government, meanwhile, is planning to extend the social security schemes run by the ESIC to all 744 districts of the country by the end of 2022. Currently, the ESI scheme is fully implemented in 443 districts and partially in 153 districts, whereas 148 districts are not covered under it.
The scheme was launched in the country on February 24, 1952 in Delhi and Kanpur covering 25,000 employees. The number of ESIC insured persons (IPs) and beneficiaries which include their kin, as on March 31, 2021, stood at 34 million and 131 million respectively.
At present, the ESIC extends medical facilities through a network of 154 ESI hospitals, 1,570 dispensaries and 76 dispensaries-cum-branch offices.
Though fresh additions do not always mean new jobs (in many cases, it could just be shift from the informal to the formal sector), the growth in the fresh additions in the current year in the ESIC and EPFO schemes signals growing employment prospects in the formal sector.
(with PTI inputs)
