Thiruvananthapuram: If Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy's chant for 70 work hours a week was sacrilege for any Keralite, maybe it's time to break perceptions. Kerala is among the top five states in India with the highest proportion of people working more than 70 hours a week in the country, according to a report titled 'Time spent on employment-related activities in India', published by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. The government staff in Kerala clock lesser hours than national average, the report notes.

Narayana Murthy suggested last year that Indians should work 70 hours a week to boost the country’s economic growth and make it globally competitive. Murthy’s remarks drew mixed reactions, with some supporting the call for increased productivity and others criticising it as unrealistic and detrimental to work-life balance.

According to the paper authored by Dr Shamika Ravi (Member, EAC to PM), 6.16% of Kerala’s population works over 70 hours a week — trailing behind only Gujarat, Punjab, Maharashtra and West Bengal. The report is based on data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation’s (MoSPI) Time Use Survey 2019.

It doesn't make Kerala the best though for the state reports lesser number of working hours compared to the national average. Workers in Kerala spend an average of 6.9 hours (416 minutes) per day on paid activities, which is six minutes below the national average of 7.03 hours (422 minutes) per day or 42.2 hours per week for a six-day working week.

Among the 36 states and Union Territories (UTs), Kerala ranks 16th in terms of average time spent on paid activities. Major states with higher average working hours than Kerala include Delhi, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Telangana Haryana, and Maharashtra.

Union Territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli lead the pack with average working hours exceeding 600 minutes per day (more than 10 hours). Delhi records an average of 8.3 hours per day, while Goa and most Northeastern states report less than six hours. Goa has the lowest average at 5.5 hours, followed by Assam at 5.87 hours.

In line with the national trend, government employees in Kerala put in fewer hours than their private-sector counterparts. Private-sector employees in Kerala clock an average of 424 minutes per day in rural areas (India average: 436 minutes) and 406 minutes in urban areas (India average: 480 minutes).

In rural Kerala, government employees work an average of 359 minutes per day, compared to the national average of 365 minutes. Urban government employees in Kerala also rank among the bottom three states, working just 360 minutes per day compared to the national average of 424 minutes.

Nationwide, government employees work 45 minutes less per day than the average Indian worker, and nearly an hour less than those employed in private or public limited companies. The gap is wider in rural areas, where private/public company employees work 71 minutes more per day than government employees.

Rural workers' grind in Kerala give something to cheer for. They clock in nine minutes more than the national average (408 minutes vs 399 minutes), but in urban areas, the state’s average working hours (425 minutes) are below the national average of 469 minutes. The state’s average working hours in the primary (agriculture), secondary (manufacturing), and tertiary (services) sectors are below the national average by 18 minutes, 33 minutes, and 25 minutes respectively.

The paper also shows a positive correlation between working hours and a state’s per capita output. According to the analysis, a 1% increase in time spent on employment-related activities is associated with a 1.7% rise in per capita Net State Domestic Product (NSDP). This relationship is stronger for large states (3.7% increase in NSDP) compared to small states and UTs (1.8% increase in NSDP).

Kerala, along with Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Delhi, and Chhattisgarh, follow this trend. However, some Northeastern states such as Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and Mizoram, along with Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, and Goa, record high per capita NSDP despite below-average working hours.

The paper observes that major economic gains can be made by increasing the time spent on employment-related activities, particularly in states (e.g., the Northeastern states) and sectors (e.g., the government sector) where people work significantly shorter hours per day than the rest of the country.