PF share of employer, employees in small scale jobs, formal sector will be borne by the governmentFinance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Saturday, August 21 that the government will pay the provident fund (PF) share of employer and employee till 2022 for those people who lost their jobs, but were again called back to work insmall-scale jobs in the formal sector and whose units are registered in the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).The Finance Minister also announced that if in a district, more than 25,000 migrant workers work in the informal sectorreturn to their native places, will receive benefits from 16 government schemes for employment.In 2020, the governmentincreased the MahatmaGandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) budget from Rs 60,000 crore to around Rs 1 lakh crore amid the COVID-19 pandemic.The provisional payroll data of retirement body EPFOreleased on Friday, August 20, highlighteda growing trend with as many as 12.83 lakh net payroll additions during June 2021.The impact of the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic waned inJune, with respect to payroll data, resulting in huge growthcompared to April and May this year, according to EPFO.The data's month-on-month analysis highlightedan increase of 5.09 lakh additions in net subscribers during June this year, compared to May 2021.Meanwhile, in November last year, the government announced theemployment incentive scheme - Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana, under which it provides subsidy for the PFcontribution for adding new employees to establishments registered with the EPFO.As part ofthe scheme, the government pays PF contribution for workers with wages up to Rs 15,000.
The contribution of 24 per cent for both employers and employees for those establishments employing up to 1,000 employees will be borne by the government.For thoseestablishments employing more than 1,000 employees, 12 per cent of the employees' share will be contributed by the government.