OF ECONOMY PICKS UP PACE IN JUNE

The formalisation of the economy gathered momentum in June with 1.28 million people subscribing to the employees' provident fund (EPF) on a net basis, the highest in the current financial year. The figure is also higher than the average monthly figure in the previous three years. However, it should be noted that these figures are revised every month which makes comparison difficult. For instance, figures released in July showed that 919,772 people subscribed to the EPF in May. This number, called net payroll data, has now been revised downward to 774,809. Similarly the figures for April were revised down to 970,235 from 1,100,145 earlier. The July figures are higher than even earlier figures of the previous two months. Experts caution against taking net payroll data as jobs data.