in a major push towards creating a more formal economy and roping in more females into the countrys workforce finance minister arun jaitley on thursday said his government would contribute 12 of the employees contribution towards provident fund for all new jobs across sectorsthe move is likely to encourage employers hire more people in the formal sector thereby pushing the overall share of countrys workforce in the organised sector out of countrys 500 million workforce nearly 90 is in the informal or unorganised sector which is often deprived of social security benefits and even minimum wages in some cases click here to use our income tax calculatorbesides the epfo act will be amended to reduce contribution of women to 8 from 12 with no change in employers contribution this would effectively mean higher take away salary for women employees jaitley said in his budget speecheconomic survey 201718 had pointed out that women participation in the countrys total workforce has come down to 24 in 201516 from 36 in 200506 prompting government to announce women specific measuresgovernments flagship schemes like beti bachao beti padhao and sukanya samridhi yojana along with extension of mandatory maternity to 26 weeks for women employed in public and private sectors and making the crche facility mandatory for establishments with more than 50 employees are some of the earlier steps in this direction