In 2019, out of the 1,440 minutes in a day, Indian youth spent 148 minutes on employment-related activities, which increased to 158 minutes in 2024.
Time Use Survey (TUS) plays a pivotal role in understanding how individuals across different age groups and gender participate in paid and unpaid activities.
TUS data depicts how gender norms and societal roles influence the way men and women divide their time, both within the household and in broader society.
Recognising the importance of unpaid work by women, the United Nations, in its 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development, has introduced an indicator for measuring the 'proportion of time spent on unpaid domestic and care work, by sex, age, and location', to track progress towards gender equality and women empowerment.
Time use surveys in India
Two surveys on time use were conducted in India in 2019 and 2024.
These surveys collected information on the activities of each household member aged six years and older over a 24-hour period -- from 4:00 AM on the day before the interview until 4 am on the day of the interview.
Each of the surveys covered approximately 450,000 individuals, with around 60 per cent from rural and 40 per cent from urban areas, and estimated the average time spent per day by individuals across nine major activities.
Time use pattern of Indian youth
According to the National Youth Policy-2014, India has a significant 'youth' population aged 15 to 29 years.
The Technical Group on Population Projections estimated their number to be 370 million out of approximately 1.41 billion people in 2024.
The sheer size of this population signifies the importance of studying their time use patterns.
In 2019, out of the 1,440 minutes in a day, Indian youth spent 148 minutes on employment-related activities, which increased to 158 minutes in 2024.
The Economic Survey 2024-2025 highlights that subscriptions to the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) more than doubled, rising from 6.1 million in FY19 to 13.1 million in FY24.
Notably, about 61 per cent of these net payroll additions were from individuals under the age of 29.
Additionally, the unemployment rate among rural and urban youth, as measured by the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), declined significantly in 2024 compared to 2019.
Apart from work, in 2019, Indian youth spent 125 minutes each on learning and socialising, 136 minutes on sports and cultural activities, 171 minutes on domestic and caregiving tasks, and the remaining 735 minutes on self-care and other activities.
By 2024, the time allocated to sports and cultural activities grew to 156 minutes, while time spent on learning (124 minutes) and unpaid domestic and caregiving services (177 minutes) remained relatively unchanged.
Socialising and communication saw a slight decrease, contributing 116 minutes on these activities. The time devoted to self-care also declined significantly in 2024.
Rural-urban difference in time use
With rapid urbanisation, extensive development and emerging employment opportunities in rural India, a convergence in the time-use patterns of rural and urban youth is seen in 2024.
Rural youth are now devoting most of their time to employment-related tasks after self-care activities.
In 2019, excluding self-care activities, rural youth spent most of the time on unpaid domestic services for household members followed by employment-related activities, while urban youth allocated time primarily to employment-related activities.
By 2024, the time spent on employment activities has significantly increased in rural and urban areas.
From 2018-2019 to 2023-2024, Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) for rural youth rose from 37.8 per cent to 48.1 per cent, while worker population ratio increased from 31.7 per cent to 44.0 per cent.
The recent rise in the time engaged in paid work indicates that extensive training and skill development programmes by the government have effectively encouraged youth to enter the labour market.
Gender disparity in time use
There is a significant gender disparity in how male and female youth allocate their time to paid and unpaid activities.
Estimates of the 'proportion of the time spent in a day on an average per person on unpaid domestic and caregiving services for household members' show that young men and women spent 2.22 per cent and 21.60 per cent, respectively, in 2019, and 2.36 per cent and 22.01 per cent, respectively, in 2024.
Thus, no noticeable decline in gender inequality in unpaid work contribution is observed.
A step towards gender equality
Participation of young women in the labour force has increased significantly over the past five years.
Between 2018-2019 and 2023-2024, the LFPR for rural females nearly doubled, rising from 15.8 per cent to 30.8 per cent, while in urban areas it increased from 17.1 per cent to 23.8 per cent.
With more young women joining the workforce, the average time spent on employment-related activities has also increased.
These trends, aligning with the vision of a 'Viksit Bharat' where young men and women contribute to the economy, are encouraging.
Persisting gender disparity, due to increased engagement of women in paid economic activities combined with the burden of unpaid domestic responsibilities -- leaving them less time for leisure, recreation, or self-care compared to their male counterparts -- is a concern.
Inculcating a culture of shared domestic responsibilities among young men is crucial to narrowing traditional gender norms and achieving gender equality.
Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff
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