Credit: Special arrangement
India’s vast and diverse economy is driven by the time and toil of millions. But beyond headline figures like GDP and employment rates lies a deeper, more complex story, one told by how people actually spend their working hours. Recent data from the Time Use Survey provides critical insight and uncovers stark inequalities across gender, age, location, and types of employment.
Agriculture andallied work: A heavier load on women and rural India
Nearly half (46.4%) of all self-employed work time is spent in the primary sector (agriculture, etc.). This figure is significantly higher for women (61.4%) compared to men (42.8%), and women also contribute heavily to primary sector work among casual labourers.
The disparity is geographic as well, self-employed individuals in rural India dedicate 61.4% of their time to the primary sector, which plummets to just 6.7% in urban areas, highlighting a stark rural-urban divide in the nature of work.
Secondary sector: Casual labourers keep the wheels turning
In contrast, the secondary sector, which includes manufacturing, construction, and mining, employs 12.3% of self-employed workers’ time and 12.8% of regular salaried employees.
However, it is casual labourers who dominate here, with over 47% of their work time spent in this sector. Male casual labourers, in particular, devote 54.5% of their time to secondary work, indicating their vital, yet vulnerable, role in India’s industrial and construction backbone.
The sector’s reliance on casual labour also underscores systemic issues like the lack of job security, absence of benefits, and minimal labour protections. Urban self-employed individuals are more likely to participate in this sector than their rural counterparts, reflecting a persistent urban-rural imbalance in industrial employment opportunities.
Tertiary sector: A modern economy still out of reach for many
At 83.5%, the services sector, which includes activities like trade, transport, and professional services, is where most of India’s regular salaried workforce spends its work time.
The time spent rises to 88.3% for salaried women, compared to 82.3% for men. However, access to the service sector remains largely urban. Among self-employed urban workers, 73.3% of their time is spent in services related work, while only 28.1% of rural self-employed workers’ time is spent in similar activities.
These numbers suggest that the modern service-driven economy is mostly urban centric, further entrenching regional inequalities.
Rural vs urban workdays: A tale of dichotomy
India’s rural and urban labour landscapes are strikingly different. Among the self-employed, rural individuals devote a majority of their work time (61.4%) to the primary sector, indicating a strong focus on agriculture and related activities.
In contrast, urban self-employed workers primarily operate in the tertiary sector, spending 73.3% of their time on services, trade, and informal businesses. The secondary sector plays a moderate role (18.9%) in urban areas but remains marginal in rural settings (9.8%).
For regular salaried workers, the majority of work time in both rural and urban areas is concentrated in the tertiary sector - 79.3% (rural) and 86.3% (urban areas) - highlighting a predominant reliance on service-based employment.
The primary sector accounts for only a small portion of salaried work time in both rural and urban areas, while the secondary sector makes up 14.2% of work time in rural and 11.8% in urban areas.
Casual labourers in rural areas divide most of their time between the primary sector (40.8%) and the secondary sector (44.6%), reflecting dependence on both sectors. In urban areas, casual workers spend a larger share of their time (57.1%) in the secondary sector, while 32.3% of their time is spent in tertiary sector jobs.
Thus, the distribution of work time reveals a clear occupational divide between rural and urban areas, underscoring the differing economic structures and employment opportunities that shape the nature of work.
Age and labour: Shifting burdens through the life cycle
Work patterns also vary markedly by age. The core working-age population (23–50 years) spends 84.2% of its regular salaried time in the services sector, a trend echoed among youth aged 15–22 (78.3%).
In contrast, older workers (51 years and above) have shifted back to the primary sector, especially in self-employment, spending 57.9% of their time there, peaking at 63.3% for those aged 65 and above. This return to primary work in later life reflects the limited coverage of pensions and continued reliance on informal or subsistence labour.
Rethinking employment through a time lens
Time-use data on paid employment in India reveals that the national workforce is operating under vastly different economic conditions across various sectors. It paints a picture of a fragmented labour market where demographic divisions run deep.
The most immediate and striking observation is the prevalence of the tertiary sector, which consumes the largest share of time for the overall population’s paid work, but it is overwhelmingly dominated by urban population.
Furthermore, the overall greater reliance on self-employed and casual labour of women and older age groups on primary sector activities points to a broader structural issue of informalisation and a lack of job security, demanding urgent policy attention for inclusive and equitable economic development.
(Palash is Fellow at the National Council of Applied Economic Research, New Delhi; Wankhar is a retired government officer)