Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, tops the list when it comes to long working hours, with 7.2% of its workforce putting in over 70 hours a week, the highest in India.
India work culture: Amidst the recent debate over work culture and the work-life balance (or lack thereof), a media report, citing data from the PM’s Economic Advisory Council and the 2019 Time Use Survey, has revealed which Indian state works the ‘hardest’, and puts in the longest workhours, and which one has the best work-life balance.
Which state works ‘hardest’?
According to a report by the Times of India (TOI), Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state, tops the list when it comes to long working hours, with 7.2% of its workforce putting in over 70 hours a week, the highest in India. Gujarat is followed by Punjab, Maharashtra, and West Bengal, as far as long workweek goes.
In contrast, people in Bihar work almost seven times less than Gujarat, emerging as the state with lowest percentage of working population putting in extreme work hours.
Longest daily work hours
As per the report, people in Delhi have the longest daily working hours, putting in 8.3 hours per day on an average, while Goans register the lowest average, working only 5.5 hours daily on average, the lowest in the country. Notably, majority of northeastern states also report less than 6 hours of work per day.
Urban dwellers work more than villagers
The report reveals that people in cities work longer hours compared to their counterparts in rural areas, with an average urban workday lasting 7.8, compared to 6.5 hours in villages.
‘Hardest’ working urban population
According to the report, Rajasthan has the ‘hardest’ working urban people, clocking 8.6 daily work hours on average, followed by Uttarakhand (8.3 hours) and Gujarat (8.3 hours).
Which cities work the least?
In contrast to the above list, most northeastern cities work lesser hours compared to their counterparts in rest of the country, with people in Meghalaya clocking 6.3 hours on average, followed by Manipur at 6.1 hours. People in Goa have the lowest work hour average at 5.9 hours, as per the report.
Meanwhile, in rural India, Uttarakhand tops the list at 7.7 hours, followed by Punjab (7.3 hrs), and Jharkhand (7.2 hrs), while
while Assam, Nagaland, and Goa average the least work hours.
Men or women, who works more?
As per the survey, men average 8.2 hours of daily work in urban areas, while women work just 6.2 hours. Rural areas follow a similar trend, where men work 7.3 hours in a day, while women average 5.6 hours.
Private sector employees work longer
While government employees work an hour less on average per day, compared to private sector workers, this figure, however, is different for each state, with Telangana and Rajasthan government employees working two hours longer than their counterparts in Assam, Meghalaya, and Kerala.
More work equals more pay?
No. According to the data, longer working hours doesn’t always translate to higher earnings, with Goa being the perfect example, as Goans, despite having the lowest average workday, top the per capita productivity chart.
The study notes that while 1% increase in working hours generally results in a 1.7% rise in income, Goa’s model suggests that efficiency matters more than sheer working hours.
How much do Indians work?
On average, Indian work 2,123 hours per year, at par with China, Malaysia, and the Philippines, however, despite the work hour parity, our per capita GDP is lower than these nations.
Notably, people in countries like Germany, France, and Switzerland work far fewer hours but earn significantly more, driving home the fact that productivity and longer work hours have little correlation, if any.
