Find Year, Region, Gender, and Employment status wise Average Hours Actually Worked per Week Dataset on Dataful
The annual PLFS reports, conducted by the National Sample Survey Office and released by MOSPI provide key statistics on workforce participation, unemployment rates, and average working hours across various sectors. Data indicates that except during the lockdown period in 2019-20 and 2020-21, the hours worked by salaried men and women consistently exceeded 50 and 40 hours per week, respectively.
The recent death of a 26-year-old Chartered Accountant in Pune, allegedly due to health complications linked to extreme work pressure, has reignited critical conversations about corporate work culture and employee well-being. Many individuals have taken to social media to share their own experiences, particularly emphasizing the challenge of long working hours.
This concern is not new. It echoes discussions in recent times when Narayana Murthy, co-founder of Infosys, suggested that young professionals in India should consider working 70 hours a week to bolster the country’s economic growth. His comments, which came at a time when developed countries were reducing work hours and introducing a 4-day work week, sparked widespread debate, highlighting the ongoing tension between dedication to work and the necessity of maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
Annual PLFS for 2023-24 report was released recently
In this context, we examine what the Periodic Labor Force Survey (PLFS) reports reveal about working hours in the country. The annual PLFS reports, conducted by the National Sample Survey Office and released by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation provide key statistics on workforce participation, unemployment rates, and average working hours across various sectors. The Ministry started publishing this report in 2017 and the latest report for 2023-24 was published on 23 September 2024.
The latest report is based on a survey carried out between July 2023 to June 2024 across the country covering over 4.18 lakh persons. The survey is usually carried out on a quarterly basis- July to September, October to December, January to March and April to June. The data is collected regarding the number of hours that individuals worked each day during a specific reference week, provided they were engaged in economic activities.
As per the questionnaire, ‘Hours actually worked’ refers to the total time spent by a person on a given day engaged in economic activities. This includes:
- Direct production hours: Time spent on actual work, including normal and overtime.
- Related production hours such as preparation, maintenance, and cleaning of tools, purchasing materials and transporting goods, waiting for customers or clients, travel between work locations and training for skill enhancement.
- Unavoidable ‘in-between time’: Time available for work during interruptions like machinery breakdowns.
- Short rest periods: Breaks for refreshments.
It does not include:
- Non-working hours: Holidays, sick leave, etc.
- Commute time: Travel from home to work.
- Long breaks: Mealtimes without productive work.
- Educational activities: Training not directly related to the economic unit
For self-employed persons whose work type is different from that of rest, the hours actually worked have been calculated based on their availability to work, whether they were ready to receive orders, attend to clients or perform economic activities. The periods of absence for illness, personal reasons, technical and economic factors like strikes or weather, or non-productive activities were excluded.
On average, people reportedly worked for 41.7 to 42.7 hours a week in India
As per the 2023-24 PLFS report, the average number of hours actually worked during a week by men and women, across all regions and all types of employment, was between 41.7 and 42.7 hours in each quarter in 2023-24. To put this in perspective, this averages out to about 7 hours a day from Monday to Saturday. Compared to 2017-18 when the average number of hours was 55.5 to 56.1 hours, there has been a significant reduction in the hours worked. The time spent in work in the quarters, October to December and January to March, is slightly higher than the remaining two quarters in each of the years. The average number of hours worked per week in these seven years fell below 40 only once, in the April to June quarter of 2019-20 which coincides with the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak and resultant lockdown.
Further, the hours actually worked by men were higher than that by women. In 2023-24, it ranged from 41.5 to 51.4 hours among men and 30.3 to 44.2 hours among women. This has declined from 44 to 52.9 hours among men and 36.4 to 45 hours among women in 2018-19.
There has been a significant reduction in hours worked over the years in both rural and urban areas, in line with the overall trend. Nonetheless, the reported number of actual hours worked in urban areas is more than that in rural areas, irrespective of gender.
Reported number of actual hours worked has declined more in urban areas than rural areas
Among rural women, the hours actually worked reduced from 39.1 to 40.8 hours a week in 2017-18 to 31.4 to 33.1 hours in 2023-24. Among their male counterparts, the same was 49.8 to 50.2 hours in 2017-18 and 43.9 to 45.5 hours in 2023-24. On the other hand, in the urban areas, the hours worked by men dropped from 57.4 to 58.1 hours a week in 2017-18 to 49.4 to 50.4 hours in 2023-24 and that among women dropped from 47.3 to 47.7 hours to 38.1 to 39.7 hours during the same period. The reduction in hours worked is more in urban areas though the number of actual work hours continues to be higher than that in rural areas. The gap between the hours worked by men and women is also clearly visible.
Salaried men and women worked for at least 50 and 40 hours a week between 2018-19 and 2023-24
The survey categorizes workers into three types-
- Self-Employed: This includes own-account workers who operate enterprises without or without employees, and helpers.
- Regular Wage/Salaried Employees: This category includes individuals employed with a consistent salary.
- Casual Labour: This includes workers engaged in casual labour for public works projects, those working specifically in MGNREGS projects, and individuals involved in various other types of casual employment.
Among these categories, regular wage/salaried employees reported the highest number of hours actually worked, followed by self-employed individuals. Except during the lockdown period in 2019-20 and 2020-21, the hours worked by salaried men and women consistently exceeded 50 and 40 hours per week, respectively.
Self-employed men reported at least 45 hours of work throughout the period (2018-19 to 2023-24: Data for 2017-18 is not available for rural and urban together), except during April to June in 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2023-24. Among their female counterparts, the number of hours worked has seen a steeper decline, from 36.4 to 37.5 hours in 2018-19 to 30.3 to 31.5 hours in 2023-24.
The gap in working hours between the two genders is lesser among casual labourers. Moreover, there has been no decline in hours worked during the pandemic years in this category of workers. Men in this category worked for 41.5 to 43 hours in 2023-24, while women worked 33.8 to 36.7 hours.
In short, the data from PLFS indicates a significant decline in average hours worked across all employment categories, with men consistently working more hours than women and urban workers logging more hours than those in rural areas. Regular wage/salaried employees reported the highest hours, while casual labourers showed resilience with stable hours even during the COVID-19 pandemic. The PLFS data also highlights the persistent gender and regional disparities in the labour market.
Overwork claimed 7.4 lakh lives in 2016 globally
Several studies conducted in recent years indicate that overworking is a significant contributor to health concerns, negatively impacting both physical and mental well-being. Estimates by WHO & ILO suggest that in 2016, about 398,000 deaths were linked to strokes and 347,000 to heart disease from individuals working 55 hours or more per week. From 2000 to 2016, deaths from heart disease due to long hours rose by 42%, and stroke-related deaths increased by 19%.
The ILO’s Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 suggests a standard workweek of 48 hours and a daily maximum of 8 hours. According to the latest data from the ILO’s dashboard, India ranks 13th among countries with the longest weekly working hours for its workforce, with 46.7 hours. Even though this figure is less than what is recommended by ILO, a whopping 51% of India’s workforce worked for 49 hours or more a week. This is the second highest globally, after Bhutan. On the other hand, Indians are highly underpaid, and India’s wage is also much lower than most countries on the list.
Indian policymakers should consider implementing stringent regulations on working hours and enhancing labour protections to safeguard the workforce from the detrimental effects of overwork.
