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Economic News Release
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Table 8. Time adults living with children under 13 spent providing childcare as a secondary activity, by primary activity and sex of provider and age of youngest child, averages for May to December, 2019 and 2020

Table 8. Time adults living with children under 13 spent providing childcare as a secondary activity, by primary activity and sex of provider and age of youngest child, averages for May to December, 2019 and 2020
Primary activity(1) and age of youngest child Average hours per day adults spent providing secondary childcare for household children(2)
Total Men Women
2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020

Children under age 13, total

Total

5.07 6.06 4.06 4.88 5.91 7.05

Personal care activities

0.26 0.22 0.23 0.15 0.29 0.29

Household activities

1.22 1.46 0.67 0.89 1.67 1.94

Purchasing goods and services

0.21 0.18 0.13 0.11 0.28 0.25

Working and work-related activities

0.22 0.67 0.18 0.62 0.24 0.72

Eating and drinking

0.58 0.67 0.53 0.58 0.62 0.75

Leisure and sports

1.81 2.15 1.70 2.08 1.91 2.22

Travel

0.40 0.32 0.36 0.26 0.43 0.38

Other activities

0.38 0.37 0.26 0.19 0.47 0.52

Youngest child ages 6 to 12

Total

4.41 6.02 3.47 4.82 5.25 7.10

Personal care activities

0.24 0.22 0.18 0.15 0.29 0.29

Household activities

0.89 1.32 0.48 0.91 1.25 1.70

Purchasing goods and services

0.19 0.21 0.10 0.11 0.26 0.29

Working and work-related activities

0.27 0.85 0.27 0.56 0.27 1.11

Eating and drinking

0.47 0.60 0.41 0.51 0.52 0.68

Leisure and sports

1.64 2.19 1.50 2.10 1.77 2.27

Travel

0.35 0.32 0.29 s 0.41 0.36

Other activities

0.36 0.30 0.24 0.18 0.47 0.41

Child under age 6

Total

5.65 6.09 4.61 4.94 6.45 7.01

Personal care activities

0.28 0.22 0.29 0.14 0.28 0.29

Household activities

1.50 1.57 0.84 0.87 2.01 2.13

Purchasing goods and services

0.23 0.16 0.15 0.10 0.29 0.22

Working and work-related activities

0.17 0.53 0.10 0.67 0.22 0.41

Eating and drinking

0.68 0.73 0.63 0.64 0.71 0.80

Leisure and sports

1.96 2.13 1.88 2.06 2.03 2.18

Travel

0.43 0.33 0.42 0.25 0.44 0.39

Other activities

0.39 0.42 0.29 0.20 0.47 0.60

(1) Unlike in prior years, major activity categories do not include associated travel. See Technical Note for activity category definitions.
(2) Secondary childcare is defined as time one has a child under 13 years "in his or her care" while doing something else as a primary activity; information on secondary childcare is not collected for children over 12 years.
s - Estimate is suppressed because it does not meet the American Time Use Survey publication standards.

Note: Includes persons 18 years and over living in households with children under 13 years, whether or not they provided childcare. Data are representative of the periods May 10th through December 31st.

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Last Modified Date: July 22, 2021