THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Amid debates over the 70-hour workweek propounded by Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy and 90-hour workweek proposed by L&T CEO S N Subrahmanyan, a study by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) has found that government and local self-government employees in Kerala’s urban areas work 6 hours a day, or 36 hours per week, on an average.
They rank 34 in terms of work time in the list that features employees from urban areas of all 28 states and eight union territories in India.
Employees in Daman and Diu topped the chart with the most working hours -- an average of 8 hours and 48 minutes per day -- in the urban category, while Dadra and Nagar Haveli stood first in the rural category with an average work time of 9 hours and 49 minutes a day.
The government and LSG employees in urban areas of other southern states reported more working time than in Kerala, with Telangana leading with 8 hours and 14 minutes. This was followed by Tamil Nadu (7 hours and 27 minutes), Andhra Pradesh (7 hours and 17 minutes) and Karnataka (7 hours and 7 minutes). The national average in this category was 7 hours and 4 minutes.
The working paper ‘Time Spent on Employment-Related Activities in India: A Note’ was prepared by EAC-PM member Dr Shamika Ravi in the backdrop of some corporate leaders’ call for increasing working hours. The report’s findings were based on ‘Time Use Survey Data (2019) conducted by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation’.
Government staff in rural Kerala, who work for an average of 5 hours and 59 minutes per day, were ranked 20th in the country. The national average was 6 hours and 5 minutes.
Study report attempts to legitimise false narrative: Ravi Raman
Lakshadweep (7 hours and 11 minutes), Tamil Nadu (6 hours and 23 minutes), and Telangana (6 hours and 4 minutes) reported higher working time than rural Kerala. Puducherry, too, shared 20th rank. In Kerala, employees of public and private limited companies reported more working time than government staff. Their average working time per day was 6 hours and 46 minutes in urban areas and 7 hours and 4 minutes in rural areas. The national average was 8 hours and 7 hours and 16 minutes respectively.
Kerala State Planning Board member K Ravi Raman said the study report attempts to legitimise the false narrative already generated by corporate leaders. “This is how a false narrative is jointly promoted by the BJP and corporate capitalists -- all at the expense of workers, farmers, and government employees,” he said.
“The state-making idea is different for Kerala from other states. In Kerala, what is taking place is ‘right-making state-making’ and not ‘state-making/corporate-making’. Here, importance is not for increasing corporate profit but to maintain a high level of state earnings. In the Public Affairs Index-2020 released by the Public Affairs Centre, Kerala was ranked as the best-governed state. So, the real question is not how long an employee works but how much the citizens are accessible to essential services,” he said.
Developed countries are moving towards shorter working weeks, reinforcing the idea that overworking is counterproductive, he said.
“India’s labour productivity remains far below global standards. The focus should shift from increasing working hours to improving wages and and investing in skill development,” he said.
PROPORTION OF PEOPLE WORKING OVER 70 HOURS
The daily average time spent by a Keralite engaged in any paid economic activity (across all sectors and regions) was 6 hours and 56 minutes as against the national average of 7 hours and 2 minutes.
The state was ranked 16th in the country, according to the study. Among 18 major states, Kerala ranked fifth in the proportion of people working more than 70 hours per week, at 6.16%. Toppers in this category were Gujarat (7.21%) and Punjab (7.09%). The time spent on economic activities has a positive impact on the Net State Domestic Product (NSDP), according to the report. A 1% increase in working time will result in a 1.7% increase in NSDP.