New Delhi: At least 815,355 new people joined the formal workforce in September 2019, a lowest in the current financial year, the government payroll data released Monday showed.

The number was the lowest this fiscal year indicating that the job creation pace may have slowed down further in recent months. While in August the number of new payroll addition were 933,681, in July it was 11,69,049 and in June the number stood at 11,66,101, the payroll data showed. In May it was 1 million and April it stood at 1.04 million.

The data, which extrapolates numbers of new EPF subscribers during the month of September, showed that of the total new payroll additions, some 452,000 were in the 18-25 age group generally considered as the fresh job seekers in the market. If compared to the month of August, this number of 18-25 age group. And this is nearly 55,000 less youth in that 18-25 age group who joined the formal workforce, the payroll data showed.

A rapidly slowing economy, which grew at 5% in June quarter, a six-year low, may be creating less number of jobs, possibly forcing many to opt out of the labour market. High unemployment rate has been a prickly issue in India in recent times several government reports indicating slowing down of job creation in recent years.

More working age urban Indians, especially the youth, are withdrawing from the labour force, according to the latest quarterly periodic labour force survey by the statistics department for March quarter of 2019. The Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), defined as the share of working age population (15+) that are either employed or looking for jobs, declined to 46.5% in March quarter from 46.8% in December quarter. LFPR for the urban youth (15-29 years) declined at a sharper rate to 37.7% in March quarter from 38.2% in December quarter, Mint reported on 24 November.

Of the total EPFO payroll additions in the month of September 2019, male employees numbers were 633,122 and females 182,216. To be sure, payroll data of most recent months may get slightly revised due to data collection and tabulation delays in some sectors.

As per the payroll data which were available since September 2017, in 2018-19, 6.11 million people joined the formal workforce and in seven months ending March 31 2018, the numbers were 1.55 million, the payroll roll data showed extrapolating EPFO subscribers base.

Lack of enough jobs and unemployment rate has been a hot issue in India for last few years . India’s labour market is vibrant and some 12 million people enter the labour market every year. In contrast, the job creation has not matched up to the requirement.

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