Time Use Survey 2024

Context:

Though India is steadily changing in the landscape of work and home, with women’s increasing stake in the workforce and evolving gender roles in caregiving, the most recent Time Use Survey 2024 conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) emphasizes on these.

Key Findings

• Participation in Employment (Ages 15-59)
  • Men: surged from 70.9% (2019) to 75% (2024)
  • Women: increased from 21.8% (2019) to current 25% (2024)
• Average hours spent on employment-related activities: 440 minutes/day
  • Men: 473 minutes
  • Women: 341 minutes
• Change from Unpaid to Paid Work
  • Women’s unpaid domestic work decreased from 315 minutes in 2019 to 305 minutes in 2024
  • Indicates greater economic participation of women
• Gender Disparities in Domestic & Caregiving Activities
  • Unpaid Domestic Work
    • Men: 88 minutes
    • Women: 137 minutes
• Caregiving of Members of Household
  • 41% of women in the age group 15-59 participated against 21.4% men
  • Women spent 140 minutes a day, while men spent just 74 minutes per day
• Recreation and Cultural Activities
  • Mean overall: 171 minutes/day
  • Men: 177 minutes
  • Women: 164 minutes
• Learning and Self-care
  • For children 6-14 years: 413 minutes of learning activities per day
  • Self-care and maintenance activities for 6 years and older: 708 minutes a day
• Production for Own Use
  • 16.8 percent of the populace engaged in activities such as farming and handicrafts for self-use.
  • Time Spent: 116 minutes/day
• Survey methodology
  • Total households surveyed: 1,39,487
    • Rural: 83,247
    • Urban: 56,240
  • Individuals surveyed (6+ years): 4,54,192
    • Rural: 2,85,389
    • Urban: 1,68,803

Analysis of the Report

• Increasing Workforce Participation
  • More men and, especially among women, in the 15-59 age group, are engaged in paid employment, and this indicates shifting towards greater economic involvement.
  • It is a decline in unpaid domestic work among women that markers the transition into paid work, but the total participation is still drastically lower compared to men.
• Ongoing Sexual Edges of Domestic Responsibility
  • In spite of changes, women spend much more time doing household chores and care roles than men.
  • The data very clearly shows the repercussions of the profoundly rooted societal norms that weigh the most in case of unpaid care on women even as they enter formal employment in large numbers.
• Developing Social and Economic Structures
  • The slight decrease of women’s unpaid household work is attributed to factors like urbanization, becoming economically independent and changing family structure.
  • But most of them never come out of the paid double burden, which means they cannot completely engage in professional advancement and recreational activities.
• Changing Tendencies in Leisure and Learning
  • The survey has shown how, as far as leisure time is concerned, men and women allocate differences in spending time on the same. This goes along with cultural expectations and gendered access to free time.
  • They also appear to be in the most potent position to fulfil their task of forming the future generation that takes part in the workforce most largely in terms of time spent learning.
• Policy and Society Implications
  • Promoting a healthy balance between both work and life at the policy level is primarily including expanded needs for childcare support, flexible working arrangements, and careful sharing of domestic chores.
  • Gender sensitive economic reforms should help narrow the participatory gap in labor force for ensuring just parity between men and women.
  • Further, encouraging men to take greater responsibility for household chores and caring for others will be an important step in breaking down traditional gendered roles and creating gender equity in society.

Though the new Time Use Survey 2024 indicates advancements toward better participation in employment and an even slight decrease in gender differences, structural barriers and societal norms remain strong inhibitions to the full economic integration of women into the economy. This will require focus on integrated policy measures, cultural shifts, and systemic support to produce a more equitable future.