While Gujarat has the largest proportion of people who work for more than 70 hours per week, Bihar has the lowest proportion, a recent working paper by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) shows.
Gujarat, Punjab, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Kerala are the top five states where more people spent more than 70 hours working in a week (more than 700 minutes in a day), the paper titled ‘Time Spent on Employment-Related Activities in India' showed. While 7.2 per cent of Gujarat's population worked over 70 hours a week, 7.1 per cent in Punjab, and 6.6 per cent in Maharashtra put in as many hours. On the other end, Jharkhand, Assam and Bihar have the lowest proportion of people working over 70 hours at 2.1 per cent, 1.6 per cent and 1.1 per cent, respectively. Across India, 4.55 per cent of the population spent over 70 hours a week on employment-related activities.
For this, the working paper analysed the Time Use Survey Data (2019) conducted by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
Work hours put in and state domestic product
The report also found linkages between hours worked by a state's population and its per capita Net State Domestic Product (NSDP). In case of large states, a 1 per cent increase in time spent on employment-related activities was associated with a 3.7 per cent higher per capita NSDP. For small states and UTs, 1 per cent more time spent on employment-related activities was associated with 1.8 per cent higher per capita NSDP.
The study was undertaken against the backdrop of comments by corporate leaders on working hours. It studied time spent on employment-related activities across states, sectors, types of enterprises, and other parameters. Among other key findings, it notes that people with regular wages/ salary work longer hours per day than others in the country. People in urban areas work almost an hour longer per day, compared to those in rural areas. Similarly, among the self-employed, people engaged in services work longer hours on average, compared to those engaged in production of goods.
Paras Jasrai, Senior Economic Analyst, India Ratings and Research, says the concentration of 70+ hour workers in high-GDP states reflects structural economic advantage. “States like Gujarat and Maharashtra, which are industrialised states, and Karnataka and Telangana, which are IT-dominated, have high work hours compared to agrarian states like Bihar and UP,†he said.
However, experts also note a downside risk to the baseline of 70 hours per week.
The Economic Survey 2024–25 cautioned against exceeding 60 weekly hours citing WHO warnings on heightened stress and burnout. “There are studies that have revealed a higher attrition rate and lower profit margins for firms with the 70+ plus hours per week culture,†Jasrai adds.
