India’s time-use data reveal the constraint a jobs count misses

A labour policy can increase opportunities for paid work while leaving many households unable to take them. India’s Time Use Survey helps identify why. In 2024, 41 per cent of women aged 15–59 took part in unpaid caregiving for household members on the reference day, compared with 21.4 per cent of men. Among participants, women spent about 140 minutes and men about 74 minutes. Both the chance of doing care and the time spent when doing it differ. An employment strategy that looks only at job offers will miss how those differences affect who can accept a job and on what terms. MoSPI’s 2024 Time Use Survey release · ILO brief on unpaid care and labour-force participation

The denominator changes what the numbers say

The 140 and 74 minutes refer to people who took part in the activity. Multiplying by the reported participation shares gives approximately 57 minutes per woman and 16 minutes per man across the specified age groups on an average reference day, using the rounded numbers. The first difference measures time among participants. The second includes people who did none of the recorded activity that day and is about three and a half times as large for women on a ratio basis. It is a useful comparison of aggregate exposure, though it says little about any one household or how time is distributed across people with different care responsibilities. MoSPI’s 2024 Time Use Survey release

The survey also reports that female participants aged 15–59 in unpaid domestic services spent about 305 minutes in 2024, compared with 315 minutes in 2019. That change is conditional on participation and belongs to a category distinct from household caregiving. It could reflect changed behaviour, a changed composition of participants, or both. It does not identify which individuals moved from unpaid to paid work. The same distinction applies to the survey’s one-day measure of employment-related activity. It should be read as a time-use statistic with its own reference period, alongside employment measures with different definitions. MoSPI’s 2024 Time Use Survey release

Hours are valuable when they arrive at the right time

Suppose two workers are offered the same ₹600 for a six-hour shift. One can arrange care at a cost of ₹100 and spends ₹60 on transport, leaving ₹440 before other costs. The other needs a longer and less predictable arrangement costing ₹350 and faces the same commute, leaving ₹190. These are illustrative figures, not wage or care estimates. If the service closes before the shift ends, the second worker may be unable to accept the offer at all. A price comparison can therefore understate a constraint involving opening hours, reliability and the timing of care.

The timing also affects which jobs people can search for. A regular shift with predictable transport can be compatible with a care arrangement that cannot accommodate overtime or a last-minute change. A worker may choose an informal or lower-paid job close to home to preserve flexibility. The choice can be economically rational while reducing observed earnings and advancement. Measuring paid work, care time and the availability of alternative arrangements together would reveal more than a comparison of wage offers alone. ILO brief on unpaid care and labour-force participation

Care has value even when it is unpaid

The strongest argument for caution is that spending time on care can be a deliberate and valuable household choice. Public policy should not equate a reduction in family care with an improvement in welfare. The relevant distinction is whether people can choose among reasonable alternatives, and whether the care itself remains good. A service that allows a parent to take paid work can also improve a child’s care if it is safe and reliable. A service that only shifts work to another unpaid relative may change who bears the burden without making the household much better off. MoSPI’s 2024 Time Use Survey release · ILO brief on unpaid care and labour-force participation

Policy can act at more than one point. Affordable services can free time during working hours. Predictable scheduling and transport can make existing services usable. Support to older or disabled household members can reduce the interruptions other workers need to manage. The relevant comparison is the cost of making a job feasible and the improvement in care or earnings it buys. A programme judged by enrolments alone will learn less about those effects than one tracking actual hours used, continuity and what households can do with the time.

A time-use diary also has limits. Some care happens alongside another activity, such as supervising a child while cooking or doing paid work. The way a survey records simultaneous activities affects which burden appears in the primary category. A shorter reported duration can therefore coexist with responsibility that still limits where someone can go. Where the policy is about access to paid work, collect information on being on call, whether someone else can take over and how much notice a household needs to accept a shift. MoSPI’s 2024 Time Use Survey release

An intervention can improve these choices even when the average minutes of care change little. For example, a family can keep the same total care time while shifting part of it away from an inflexible working hour. That would make a job feasible without producing a large change in a daily total. Comparing care schedules before and after an opening, and asking which jobs became practical, can reveal this effect. That makes the timing of care part of the labour-market analysis.

What to measure alongside jobs

Report participation and time for all adults and for participants, and compare groups by age, location and employment status where the data permit it. Follow service use, work continuity, earnings after care costs and the quality of care. Comparisons around phased service openings can help identify effects, provided trends and differences across areas are considered. A rise in paid employment alongside better care and lower involuntary constraints would be a stronger result than an isolated change in either employment or time. India has the beginnings of the evidence in its time-use data. It needs to connect those measures to the practical choices people face. MoSPI’s 2024 Time Use Survey release · ILO brief on unpaid care and labour-force participation