Working hours in India one of the highest in the world, shows NSSO report

People in India devote one of the longest hours at work on an average compared to its global peers, the National Sample Sample Survey Office (NSSO)'s first periodic labour force survey (PLFS) showed.

On an average, workers in cities worked 53-54 hours and those in villages worked 46-47 hours in a week during July-June 2018. The NSSO survey showed that women in rural areas were severely underemployed as close of half of them worked for less than 36 hours in a week, even as men in urban areas worked for comparatively longer hours – often in the range of 60-84 hours per week.

This is the first official estimate of working hours done by a statistical agency in India and a quarter-wise trend was captured in the PLFS report. During the survey, workers were asked about the number of hours they worked in the previous week of the field work (known as current weekly status approach).

A majority of workers in India worked for more than 48 hours a week – higher than the International Labour Organisation (ILO)’s prescribed time-limit, according to the survey.

The average hours worked in south Asia and east Asia in 2017 were the world’s highest, at 46.4 and 46.3 hours per week, respectively, according to the ILO’s Asia-Pacific Employment and Social Outlook 2018 report. For instance, in Nepal, the average weekly hours per employee stood at 54, in Maldives at 48, in Bangladesh at 47 and, for Malaysia and China at 46, according to the ILOSTAT database of the ILO.

By comparison, the global mean of hours worked per week was 43, with significantly lower numbers in developed regions.

Around 52-55 per cent of the rural persons and 68-70 per cent urban persons worked more than 48 hours a week in India, the NSSO’s annual survey for 2017-18, which has been withheld for release by the Union government, showed.

Experts pointed out that lower wages compel workers, especially those in the informal sector, to work for longer hours. They said that lack of decent work opportunities for women can be one key reason behind them clocking comparatively less hours at work.

The ILO conventions, some of which even India is a signatory of, has established 48 hours a week as a standard working time and anything more is considered to be in ‘excess.’ In India, the Factories Act, 1948 also stipulates that a worker cannot be employed for more than 48 hours in a week and in case she has been, the employer has to provide overtime wages. Some other pieces of legislation, including those notified by the state governments, have also prescribed a 48-hour a week work limit.

The NSSO survey showed gender disparity in the working hours in both rural and urban parts of the country.

About three-fourth of urban males (74 per cent) and almost half of females (46 per cent) worked more than 48 hours a week in cities. In rural areas, while 58 per cent males worked more than 48 hours a week, around 72 per cent females worked less than 48 hours in a week.

According to the ILO report, workers in informal employment were more likely to work for excessive hours because they are outside labour law protection.

In fact, in rural areas, 40-46 per cent females worked less than 36 hours per week –considered to be short or part-time working hours by ILO. While, in the urban areas, 28-29 per cent men worked in the range of 60-84 hours a week.

“We have seen a shift towards a piece-rated work regime even in the agricultural sector where workers are paid not even on a daily basis but by the amount of work they do. This has resulted in flexiblisation of labour hiring in agriculture and opened a way for the use of cheap labour of women who can only work for fewer hours because they also have to take the burden of family responsibilities,” Vikas Rawal, professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University's Centre for Economic Studies and Planning said.

The survey showed that regular wage or salaried employees worked for longer duration (53-56 hours) than the self-employed (46-54 hours) and casual workers (43-48 hours).

“The numbers are affirmation of the lower worker participation rate of females. In case of males, the number of hours in a week could be more than 48 hours due to a need to earn more. Since the unemployment rate is high, it is also possible that the same set of people are working in multiple jobs,” said K R Shyam Sundar, professor of human resource management at XLRI.

A comparatively less hour of work for women also pointed towards a prevalence of underemployment in the economy. The survey classified persons to be underemployed if they are available for additional work in addition to their economic activities.

In rural areas, the proportion of population which was underemployed was in the range of 4.6 per cent-10.7 per cent. The share of underemployed population stood in the range of 3.1 per cent-9 per cent in the urban areas. The highest share of underemployed were during July-September period and the lowest in April-June, the survey showed.

At an overall level, women were more underemployed than men in urban areas, as per the survey. In fact, during January-June 2018, twice the urban women were underemployed than their male counterparts. Further, women were available for additional hours of work than men in urban areas.

“The phenomenon of excessive working hours is huge in Asia, with large numbers of workers in the region, especially the low-paid workers, consistently clocking more than 48 hours per week. Holding multiple jobs is also not uncommon for some workers in the region and excessive working hours continue to be an area of concern,” the ILO report said.