45+ hours a week in India: IMF study busts myth that getting richer means working less
The IMF analysis finds that working hours per adult have a mild bell-shaped relationship with income. They tend to be lower in the poorest and richest countries and highest in many middle-income economies.
- Aug 20, 2026,
- Updated Aug 20, 2026 4:49 PM IST
For a century, the promise seemed simple: as economies grow and technology improves, work should take up less of our lives. John Maynard Keynes imagined a 15-hour workweek. AI has revived the same expectation. But a new global analysis featured by the IMF turns that assumption on its head: economic development does not automatically reduce working hours.
Researchers Amory Gethin and Emmanuel Saez analysed a new dataset covering 160 countries and 97% of the world's population. Their conclusion is striking: for people in their prime working years, there is no clear evidence that working hours fall as countries become richer.
Instead, the number of hours people work is shaped heavily by education, pensions, labour laws, paid leave, overtime rules and other social policies.
How much does the world work?
Globally, 59% of people aged 15 and above are employed. Those with jobs work an average of about 43 hours a week. When people without jobs are included, the average adult works around 25 hours a week.
But the global average masks enormous differences.
Working hours are lowest among teenagers, climb sharply during early adulthood, peak during the prime working years and fall after age 60. Gender differences are equally significant: men account for roughly two-thirds of total working hours worldwide, while women account for about one-third.
The key difference is not necessarily how long employed people work, but who participates in paid or economically counted work at all.
India among nation where workers put in long hours
The assumption that richer countries always work less also does not hold neatly. The IMF analysis finds that working hours per adult have a mild bell-shaped relationship with income. They tend to be lower in the poorest and richest countries and highest in many middle-income economies.
For those who have jobs, weekly working time exceeds 45 hours in middle-income countries such as India and Pakistan.
India's position is therefore part of a wider pattern in which emerging economies experience strong demand for labour as manufacturing and services expand. Longer working hours can accompany this structural transformation.
Yet income alone explains only a small part of the differences. Countries with similar income levels can have sharply different working patterns.
Why do young people work less in richer countries?
One of the clearest changes comes at the two ends of working life. As countries develop, young people tend to work less because more of them stay in school for longer. Older people work less as public pension systems expand and make retirement financially possible.
The researchers say that once schooling and pension coverage are taken into account, national income itself no longer predicts working hours among young and elderly people. That means what looks like a consequence of becoming richer may actually be the result of policy choices.
A society decides how long children stay in education. Governments decide how retirement is supported. Those choices change the amount of time people spend in the workforce.
Gender shift hiding behind stable working hours
The biggest surprise comes among people aged 20 to 59. Total working time has remained remarkably stable across many countries and over long periods. In the US, for example, average prime-age working time, including people without jobs, was about 30 hours a week in 1900 — almost the same as today.
But that apparent stability hides a major redistribution. Men have generally reduced their working hours, while more women have entered paid employment.
As women's participation in the workforce increased, the additional hours worked by women offset reductions in men's working hours in many countries. Economic development, therefore, did not necessarily eliminate work; it changed who does it.
Do higher taxes mean fewer working hours?
At first glance, the data appear to support that argument. Countries with lower labour taxation, such as India, tend to have longer working hours, while countries such as France, with higher labour taxes, record shorter hours.
But the relationship becomes more complicated when labour regulations and formal employment are considered.
The researchers find that the direct effect of taxation on working hours disappears after accounting for these factors. Instead, maximum working-hour limits, overtime regulations, paid leave and retirement systems appear to play a much stronger role in determining how much people work.
What this means for the future of work
The findings carry a bigger message than simply how many hours people spend at work.
Technology can raise productivity. Economic growth can make societies wealthier. But neither automatically produces shorter working weeks.
The amount of work people do is also determined by choices governments and societies make about education, retirement, labour rights, taxation, social protection and workplace rules.
That could become increasingly important as AI transforms jobs and productivity. The question may not simply be whether technology can make humans work less.
For a century, the promise seemed simple: as economies grow and technology improves, work should take up less of our lives. John Maynard Keynes imagined a 15-hour workweek. AI has revived the same expectation. But a new global analysis featured by the IMF turns that assumption on its head: economic development does not automatically reduce working hours.
Researchers Amory Gethin and Emmanuel Saez analysed a new dataset covering 160 countries and 97% of the world's population. Their conclusion is striking: for people in their prime working years, there is no clear evidence that working hours fall as countries become richer.
Instead, the number of hours people work is shaped heavily by education, pensions, labour laws, paid leave, overtime rules and other social policies.
How much does the world work?
Globally, 59% of people aged 15 and above are employed. Those with jobs work an average of about 43 hours a week. When people without jobs are included, the average adult works around 25 hours a week.
But the global average masks enormous differences.
Working hours are lowest among teenagers, climb sharply during early adulthood, peak during the prime working years and fall after age 60. Gender differences are equally significant: men account for roughly two-thirds of total working hours worldwide, while women account for about one-third.
The key difference is not necessarily how long employed people work, but who participates in paid or economically counted work at all.
India among nation where workers put in long hours
The assumption that richer countries always work less also does not hold neatly. The IMF analysis finds that working hours per adult have a mild bell-shaped relationship with income. They tend to be lower in the poorest and richest countries and highest in many middle-income economies.
For those who have jobs, weekly working time exceeds 45 hours in middle-income countries such as India and Pakistan.
India's position is therefore part of a wider pattern in which emerging economies experience strong demand for labour as manufacturing and services expand. Longer working hours can accompany this structural transformation.
Yet income alone explains only a small part of the differences. Countries with similar income levels can have sharply different working patterns.
Why do young people work less in richer countries?
One of the clearest changes comes at the two ends of working life. As countries develop, young people tend to work less because more of them stay in school for longer. Older people work less as public pension systems expand and make retirement financially possible.
The researchers say that once schooling and pension coverage are taken into account, national income itself no longer predicts working hours among young and elderly people. That means what looks like a consequence of becoming richer may actually be the result of policy choices.
A society decides how long children stay in education. Governments decide how retirement is supported. Those choices change the amount of time people spend in the workforce.
Gender shift hiding behind stable working hours
The biggest surprise comes among people aged 20 to 59. Total working time has remained remarkably stable across many countries and over long periods. In the US, for example, average prime-age working time, including people without jobs, was about 30 hours a week in 1900 — almost the same as today.
But that apparent stability hides a major redistribution. Men have generally reduced their working hours, while more women have entered paid employment.
As women's participation in the workforce increased, the additional hours worked by women offset reductions in men's working hours in many countries. Economic development, therefore, did not necessarily eliminate work; it changed who does it.
Do higher taxes mean fewer working hours?
At first glance, the data appear to support that argument. Countries with lower labour taxation, such as India, tend to have longer working hours, while countries such as France, with higher labour taxes, record shorter hours.
But the relationship becomes more complicated when labour regulations and formal employment are considered.
The researchers find that the direct effect of taxation on working hours disappears after accounting for these factors. Instead, maximum working-hour limits, overtime regulations, paid leave and retirement systems appear to play a much stronger role in determining how much people work.
What this means for the future of work
The findings carry a bigger message than simply how many hours people spend at work.
Technology can raise productivity. Economic growth can make societies wealthier. But neither automatically produces shorter working weeks.
The amount of work people do is also determined by choices governments and societies make about education, retirement, labour rights, taxation, social protection and workplace rules.
That could become increasingly important as AI transforms jobs and productivity. The question may not simply be whether technology can make humans work less.