For release 10:00 a.m. (EDT) Wednesday, June 19, 2019 USDL-19-1003
Technical information: (202) 691-6339 * atusinfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/tus
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 * PressOffice@bls.gov
AMERICAN TIME USE SURVEY -- 2018 RESULTS
In 2018, 89 percent of full-time employed persons worked on an average
weekday, compared with 31 percent on an average weekend day, the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Full-time employed persons
averaged 8.5 hours of work time on weekdays they worked, and 5.4 hours
on weekend days they worked. Multiple jobholders were more likely to
work on an average weekend day than were single jobholders--56 percent,
compared with 28 percent.
These and other results from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) were
released today. These data include the average amount of time per day
in 2018 that individuals worked, did household activities, and engaged
in leisure and sports activities. Additionally, measures of the average
time per day spent providing childcare--both as a primary (or main)
activity and while doing other things--for the combined years 2014-18
are provided. For a detailed description of ATUS data and methodology,
see the Technical Note.
Working (by Employed Persons) in 2018
--Many more full-time employed persons worked on weekdays than on
weekend days: 89 percent worked on an average weekday, compared
with 31 percent on an average weekend day. (See table 4.)
--Multiple jobholders were more likely to work on an average
weekday than were single jobholders--90 percent, compared with
82 percent. They were also more likely to work on an average
weekend day--56 percent, compared with 28 percent. (See table
4.)
--On days they worked, 82 percent of employed persons did some
or all of their work at their workplace and 24 percent did some
or all of their work at home. Employed persons spent more time
working at the workplace than at home--7.9 hours, compared with
2.9 hours. (See table 6.)
--Among workers age 25 and over, those with an advanced degree
were more likely to work at home than were persons with lower
levels of educational attainment--42 percent of those with an
advanced degree performed some work at home on days worked,
compared with 12 percent of those with a high school diploma
and no college. Workers with an advanced degree also were more
likely to work on an average day than were those with only a
high school diploma--74 percent, compared with 65 percent. (See
table 6.)
--On days they worked in 2003, 19 percent of employed workers
spent some time working while at home. The share of employed
workers performing work at home rose to 24 percent in 2009,
and remained relatively flat from 2009 to 2018. (See table 6.)
--On the days they worked, employed men worked 34 minutes more
than employed women. This difference partly reflects women's
greater likelihood of working part time. However, even among
full-time workers (those usually working 35 hours or more per
week), men worked more per day than women--8.2 hours, compared
with 7.9 hours. (See table 4.)
Household Activities in 2018
--On an average day, 84 percent of women and 69 percent of men
spent some time doing household activities, such as housework,
cooking, lawn care, or household management. (See table 1.)
--On the days they did household activities, women spent an average
of 2.6 hours on these activities, while men spent 2.0 hours. (See
table 1.)
--On an average day, 20 percent of men did housework--such as
cleaning or laundry--compared with 49 percent of women. Forty-
six percent of men did food preparation or cleanup, compared
with 69 percent of women. Men were slightly more likely to
engage in lawn and garden care than were women--11 percent,
compared with 7 percent. (See table 1.)
--From 2003 to 2018, the share of men doing food preparation and
cleanup on an average day increased from 35 percent to 46 percent.
(See table 1.)
Leisure Activities in 2018
--On an average day, nearly everyone age 15 and over (96 percent)
engaged in some sort of leisure activity, such as watching TV,
socializing, or exercising. Men spent 49 minutes per day more in
these activities than did women (5.7 hours, compared with 4.9
hours). (See table 1.)
--On average, adults age 75 and over spent 7.8 hours engaged in
leisure activities per day--more than any other age group; 25-
to 44-year-olds spent a little over 4.0 hours engaged in leisure
and sports activities per day--less than other age groups. (See
table 11A.)
--Watching TV was the leisure activity that occupied the most time
(2.8 hours per day), accounting for just over half of all leisure
time, on average. (See table 11A.)
--Socializing and communicating, such as visiting with friends
or attending or hosting social events, accounted for an average
of 38 minutes per day, and was the next most common leisure
activity after watching TV. Individuals spent about twice as
much time socializing on weekend days (59 minutes) as on
weekdays (29 minutes). (See tables 11A and 11B.)
--Time spent reading for personal interest varied greatly by age.
Individuals age 75 and over averaged 48 minutes of reading per
day whereas individuals ages 15 to 54 read on average 10 minutes
or less per day. (See table 11A.)
--On average, persons ages 15 to 24 spent the most time playing
games or using a computer for leisure--about one hour per day.
(See table 11A.)
--Men were more likely than women to participate in sports,
exercise, or recreation on any given day--21 percent, compared
with 17 percent. On days that they participated, men also
spent more time doing these activities than did women--1.7
hours, compared with 1.3 hours. (See table 1.)
Care of Household Children for the period 2014-18
--Adults living in households with children under age 6 spent
an average of 2.1 hours per day providing primary childcare
to household children. Adults living in households where the
youngest child was between the ages of 6 and 17 spent less
than half as much time providing primary childcare to household
children--50 minutes per day. Primary childcare is childcare
that is done as a main activity, such as providing physical
care or reading to children. (See table 9.)
--On an average day, among adults living in households with
children under age 6, women spent 1.1 hours providing physical
care (such as bathing or feeding a child) to household children;
by contrast, men spent 26 minutes providing physical care.
(See table 9.)
--Among adults living with children under age 6, those who were
not employed spent over an hour more per day caring for and
helping household children than did employed adults--2.8 hours
versus 1.7 hours. (See tables 8B and 8C.)
--Adults living in households with at least one child under age
6 spent an average of 5.4 hours per day providing secondary
childcare--that is, they had at least one child in their care
while doing activities other than primary childcare. Secondary
childcare provided by adults living in households with children
under age 6 was most commonly provided while doing leisure
activities (2.0 hours) or household activities (1.4 hours).
(See table 10.)
--Adults living in households with children under age 6 spent
more time providing primary childcare on an average weekday
(2.2 hours) than on an average weekend day (2.0 hours). However,
they spent less time providing secondary childcare on weekdays
than on weekend days--4.4 hours, compared with 7.6 hours. (See
tables 9 and 10.)
Additional Data
ATUS 2018 data files are available for users to do their own tabulations and
analyses. In accordance with BLS and Census Bureau policies that protect the
privacy of survey respondents, identifying information does not appear on the
data files. The 2018 data files are available on the BLS website at
www.bls.gov/tus/data.htm.
