No slacking: Indians work long, are willing to put in more hours

Never mind work-life balance: this generation spends more time on the job than ever before

Japan’s government is pushing for a shorter work-week, holding the country’s famously long hours partly responsible for fewer people getting married or having children.

Indians put in longer work hours than the Japanese, shows a 'Business Standard' analysis of data sets including those cited by a recent International Labour Organization report. Indians worked 2,123 hours annually before the pandemic in 2019, or 25.5 per cent longer than the 1,691 hours the Japanese put up. And while Japan’s working hours have been coming down since 1990, India’s are going up (chart 1).

Regular wage earners or salaried employees worked