ROOPAK GOSWAMI
Shillong, Mar 7: An analysis of employment-related activities across India has found that Meghalaya reports slightly higher average working hours than Assam but remains among the states with the lowest work duration in the country.
The study, conducted by Dr. Shamika Ravi of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM), is based on the Time Use Survey (2019) conducted by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). The study was published in January 2025.
The data says that while the national average for time spent on paid economic activities stands at 422 minutes per day (7.03 hours), most states in Northeast India report significantly lower figures.
For instance, the average time spent on paid activities (work) per day by individuals in Meghalaya is 354 minutes per day (5.9 hours) while in Assam it is 352 minutes per day (5.87) hours.
The report was prepared as there were recent remarks by leaders of corporate India which had sparked an interesting public debate on working hours per week. Their general point is that if India wants to become a developed nation, people will have to work 70 hours a week or more. Assuming a six-day work week, this translates to 700 minutes per day on employment-related activities. So far, the public discussion has mostly focused on efficiency versus quantity of work.
“Though this is an important aspect, it is imperative to first understand how things stand on the ground by studying the available data. That is, how much time is spent on employment-related activities across states, different economic sectors, types of enterprises, rural versus urban differences, and differences across genders and social groups within the country. In addition, this note also provides evidence of the association between time spent on employment-related activities and the per capita Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) at constant prices,” the study says.
The highest among states of the Northeast is Sikkim, where the average time spent on paid activities (work) per day by individuals is 372 minutes (6.2 hours), followed by 366 minutes (6.1 hours) in Arunachal Pradesh.
The average time spent on paid work in Meghalaya in rural areas is 351 minutes per day (5.85 hours per day), and in urban areas, it is 375 minutes per day (6.25 hours per day). This shows that people in urban Meghalaya work about 24 minutes more per day on average compared to those in rural areas.
“Another remarkable feature that emerges from this analysis is that regardless of the nature of work and sectors, the Northeastern states of India report significantly shorter work days compared to the rest of the country. Within each sector of the economy, the Northeastern states – Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura – report the lowest working time per day,” the report says.’
As regards sector-wise work hours in Meghalaya, people in the primary sector (Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, Mining, etc.) work 329 minutes per day (5.48 hours), Secondary Sector (Manufacturing, Construction, etc.) work 372 minutes per day (6.2 hours) and in Tertiary Sector (Services, Retail, Education, Healthcare, etc.) they work for 388 minutes per day (6.47 hours)
This means that workers in the tertiary sector work the longest hours (6.47 hours per day), followed by the secondary sector. Primary sector workers (such as farmers) work the shortest hours (5.48 hours per day).
Government employees in Meghalaya overall work for 341 minutes per day (5.68 hours). Rural government employees work for 302 minutes per day (5.03 hours) while urban government employees work for 333 minutes per day (5.55 hours).
“The overall results indicate that while India is comparable to other emerging economies of the world in terms of the number of daily working hours, it is also true that major economic gains can be made by increasing the time on employment-related activities. This is particularly relevant for states (for example, the Northeastern states) and sectors (for example, the government sector) where people work significantly shorter hours per day compared to the rest of the country,” the study says.
