The keyword is `paths` and the actions were using `path` That's the reason why most actions have been running, and there's been no impact in time savings
GitHub does not support skipped but required checks by default, this an official workaround to allow this feature; which requires to duplicate the same workflow using path-ignore and just executing a step that will always pass, for each job. Reference: https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/configuring-branches-and-merges-in-your-repository/defining-the-mergeability-of-pull-requests/troubleshooting-required-status-checks#handling-skipped-but-required-checks