Exploring the Coexistence Between New Quality Productive Force Developments, Human Capital Level Improvements and Time Poverty from a Time Utilization Perspective

The development of new quality productive forces and the improvement of human capital have significantly improved people’s material and spiritual living standards. However, this has not brought people time affluence. Time poverty is related to lower happiness and physical health, and should be of concern. This paper theoretically analyzes the relationship among new quality productive forces, human capital level and time poverty, and conducts an empirical study based on the data from the Residents’ Life Time Allocation Survey from 2006 to 2021. The results show that more than 40% of individuals feel time poverty. Under the combined influence of new quality productive forces and human capital level, individual work time is still increasing, while leisure time is decreasing, which has contributed to increased time poverty. Individuals participate in more leisure activities in less leisure time, so they do not fully enjoy their leisure time. Moreover, with the improvement of new quality productive forces and human capital level, individuals are more inclined to participate in cultural appreciation, educating children, amateur learning, etc., activities. These activities are more like the extension of work time, so that people feel that leisure time is dominated. All these effects are significantly different in terms of gender, marital status, occupation, family size and income.