Technical Note
The estimates in this news release are based on annual average data from the American Time Use
Survey (ATUS). The ATUS, which is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor
Statistics (BLS), is a continuous survey about how individuals age 15 and over spend their time.
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Survey methodology
Data collection for the ATUS began in January 2003. Sample cases for the survey are selected
monthly, and interviews are conducted continuously throughout the year. In 2023, approximately
8,500 individuals were interviewed. Estimates are released annually.
ATUS sample households are chosen from the households that completed their eighth (final)
interview for the Current Population Survey (CPS), the nation's monthly household labor force
survey. ATUS sample households are selected to ensure that estimates will be nationally
representative.
One individual age 15 or over is randomly chosen from each sampled household. This "designated
person" is interviewed by telephone once about his or her activities on the day before the
interview--the "diary day."
All ATUS interviews are conducted using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing. Procedures are
in place to collect information from the small number of households that did not provide a telephone
number during the CPS interview.
ATUS designated people are preassigned a day of the week about which to report. Preassignment is
designed to reduce variability in response rates across the week and to allow oversampling of weekend
days so that accurate weekend day measures can be developed. Interviews occur on the day following
the assigned day. For example, a person assigned to report about a Monday would be contacted on the
following Tuesday. Ten percent of designated people are assigned to report about each of the five
weekdays. Twenty-five percent are assigned to report about each weekend day. Households are called
for up to 8 consecutive weeks (for example, 8 Tuesdays) in order to secure an interview.
About the questionnaire
In the time diary portion of the ATUS interview, survey respondents sequentially report activities
they did between 4 a.m. on the day before the interview until 4 a.m. on the day of the interview. For
each activity, respondents are asked how long the activity lasted. For activities other than personal
care activities (such as sleeping and grooming), interviewers also ask respondents where they were and
who was in the room with them (if at home) or who accompanied them (if away from home). If respondents
report doing more than one activity at a time, they are asked to identify which one was the "main"
(primary) activity. If none can be identified, then the interviewer records the first activity
mentioned. After completing the time diary, interviewers ask respondents additional questions to
clearly identify work, volunteering, eldercare, and secondary childcare activities. Secondary
childcare is defined as having a child under age 13 in one's care while doing other activities.
In addition, the ATUS includes an update of the household composition from the last CPS interview
(2 to 5 months prior to the ATUS interview), the labor force status of the respondent, and the
employment status of his or her spouse or unmarried partner. For respondents who became employed
or changed jobs between the last CPS interview and the ATUS interview, information also is collected
on industry, occupation, class of worker, and earnings. Finally, a question about current school
enrollment status is asked of all respondents ages 15 to 49.
After completing the interview, primary activity descriptions are assigned a single 6-digit code
using the ATUS Coding Lexicon. The 3-tier coding system consists of 17 major activity categories,
each with multiple second- and third-tier subcategories. These coding lexicon categories are then
combined into composite categories for publication, such as in this news release. Descriptions of
categories shown in this release can be found in the Major activity category definitions section of
this Technical Note. The ATUS Coding Lexicon can be accessed at www.bls.gov/tus/lexicons.htm.
Because of the complexity of coding everyday activities into narrowly defined lexicon categories,
coders use a comprehensive set of rules to guide their decisions. In order to capture useful and
detailed information, travel activities are coded according to the purpose of travel. For more
information about coding travel, see Exhibit 5.1 of the ATUS User's Guide at
www.bls.gov/tus/atususersguide.pdf.
Concepts and definitions
Average day. The average day measure reflects an average distribution across all people in the
reference population and all days of the week. The ATUS collects data about daily activities from
all segments of the population age 15 and over, including people who are employed and not employed.
Activity profiles differ based upon age, employment status, sex, and other characteristics. For
example, in 2023, people in the United States age 15 and over spent 3.3 hours per day working. By
comparison, on an average weekday they worked, full-time employed people spent 8.5 hours working.
Many activities typically are not done on a daily basis, and some activities only are done by a
subset of the population.
Average hours per day. The average number of hours spent in a 24-hour day (between 4 a.m. on the
diary day and 4 a.m. on the interview day) doing a specified activity.
--Average hours per day, population. The average number of hours per day is computed using all
responses from a given sample of the population, including those of respondents who did not do
a particular activity on their diary day. These estimates reflect how many people engaged in an
activity and the amount of time they spent doing it.
--Average hours per day, people who did the activity. The average number of hours per day is
computed using only responses from those who engaged in a particular activity on their diary day.
Diary day. The diary day is the day about which the respondent reports. For example, the diary
day of a respondent interviewed on Tuesday is the preceding Monday.
Earnings
--Usual weekly earnings. Estimates represent the earnings of full-time wage and salary workers
with one job only (both incorporated and unincorporated self-employed are excluded), before
taxes and other deductions. They include any overtime pay, commissions, or tips usually
received. Usual weekly earnings are updated in the ATUS for about 40 percent of wage and
salary workers--if the respondent changed jobs or employment status between the CPS and ATUS
interviews, or if the CPS weekly earnings value was imputed. This means that the earnings
information could be out of date because the CPS interview was done 2 to 5 months prior to
the ATUS interview. Respondents are asked to identify the easiest way for them to report
earnings (hourly, weekly, biweekly, twice monthly, annually, or other) and how much they
usually earn in the reported time period. Earnings reported on a basis other than weekly are
converted to a weekly equivalent. The term "usual" is as perceived by the respondent. If the
respondent asks for a definition of usual, interviewers are instructed to define the term as
more than half the weeks worked during the past 4 or 5 months.
--Weekly earnings quartiles. The ranges used for the quartiles represent approximately 25 percent
of full-time wage and salary workers (both incorporated and unincorporated self-employed are
excluded) who held only one job. For example, 25 percent of full-time wage and salary workers
with one job only had weekly earnings of $800 or less in 2023. These dollar values vary from
year to year.
Employment status
--Employed. All people who:
1) At any time during the 7 days prior to the interview did any work at all as paid employees,
or worked in their own business or profession or on their own farm; or
2) Were not working during the 7 days prior to the interview but had jobs or businesses from
which they were temporarily absent because of illness, bad weather, vacation, childcare
problems, labor-management disputes, maternity or paternity leave, job training, or other
family or personal reasons, whether or not they were paid for the time off or were seeking
other jobs; or
3) Usually worked 15 hours or more as unpaid workers in a family-operated enterprise.
--Employed full time. Full-time workers are those who usually worked 35 or more hours per week at
all jobs combined.
--Employed part time. Part-time workers are those who usually worked fewer than 35 hours per week
at all jobs combined.
--Not employed. People are not employed if they do not meet the conditions for employment. Those
who are not employed include individuals classified as unemployed as well as those classified
as not in the labor force (using CPS definitions).
The numbers of employed and not employed people in this release do not correspond to published
totals from the CPS for several reasons. First, the reference population for the ATUS is age 15 and
over, whereas it is age 16 and over for the CPS. Second, ATUS data are collected continuously, the
employment reference period being the 7 days prior to the interview. By contrast, CPS data are
usually collected during the week including the 19th of the month and generally refer to employment
during the week containing the 12th of the month. Finally, the CPS accepts answers from household
members about other household members whereas such proxy responses are not allowed in the ATUS.
While the information on employment from the ATUS is useful for assessing work in the context of
other daily activities, the employment data are not intended for analysis of current employment
trends. Compared with the CPS and other estimates of employment, the ATUS estimates are based on
a much smaller sample and are only available with a substantial lag since ATUS data and estimates
are published during the year following data collection.
Household children. Household children are children under age 18 residing in the household of
the ATUS respondent. The children may be related to the respondent (such as his or her own children,
grandchildren, nieces or nephews, or brothers or sisters) or not related (such as foster children
or children of roommates or boarders).
Primary activity. A primary activity is the main activity a respondent was doing at a specified
time. With the exception of secondary childcare in table 10, the estimates presented in this release
reflect time spent in primary activities only.
Secondary activities. A secondary (or simultaneous) activity is an activity done at the same time
as a primary activity. With the exception of the care of children under age 13, information on
secondary activities is not collected in the ATUS.
Secondary childcare. Secondary childcare is care for children under age 13 that is done while
doing an activity other than primary childcare, such as cooking dinner. Secondary childcare estimates
are derived by summing the durations of activities during which respondents had at least one child
under age 13 in their care while doing other things. The time individuals spend providing secondary
childcare is further restricted to the time between when the first household child under age 13 woke
up and when the last household child under age 13 went to bed. It is also restricted to times the
respondent was awake. If respondents report providing both primary and secondary care at the same
time, the time is attributed to primary care only.
Weekday, weekend, and holiday estimates. Estimates for weekdays are an average of reports about
Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. Estimates for weekend days and holidays are an average
of reports about Saturdays, Sundays, and the following holidays: New Year's Day, Easter, Memorial
Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. Data were not collected
about New Year's Day in 2023.
Major activity category definitions
The following definitions describe the activity categories shown in this report. All major
time-use categories in this release include related travel time and waiting time. For example,
time spent "driving to the stadium" and time spent "waiting to get into the stadium to play ball"
are included in Leisure and sports.
Personal care activities. Personal care activities include sleeping, grooming (such as bathing
or dressing), health-related self-care, and personal or private activities. Receiving unpaid
personal care from others (for example, "my sister put polish on my nails") also is captured in
this category. In general, respondents are not asked who they were with or where they were for
personal care activities, as such information can be sensitive.
Eating and drinking. All time spent eating or drinking (except eating and drinking done as
part of a work or volunteer activity), whether alone, with others, at home, at a place of purchase,
or somewhere else, is classified here.
Household activities. Household activities are activities done by individuals to maintain their
households. These include housework; cooking; lawn and garden care; pet care; vehicle maintenance
and repair; home maintenance, repair, decoration, and renovation; and household management and
organizational activities (such as filling out paperwork or planning a party). Food preparation,
whether or not reported as done specifically for another household member, is always classified
as a household activity unless it was done as a volunteer, work, or income-generating activity.
For example, "making breakfast for my son" is coded as a household activity, not as childcare.
Purchasing goods and services. This category includes time spent purchasing consumer goods,
professional and personal care services, household services, and government services. Consumer
purchases include most purchases and rentals of consumer goods, regardless of the mode or place
of purchase or rental (in person, online, via telephone, at home, or in a store). Gasoline,
grocery, other food purchases, and all other shopping are further broken out in subcategories.
Time spent obtaining, receiving, and purchasing professional and personal care services provided
by someone else also is classified in this category. Professional services include childcare,
financial services and banking, legal services, medical and adult care services, real estate
services, and veterinary services. Personal care services include day spas, hair salons and
barbershops, nail salons, and tanning salons. Activities classified here include time spent paying,
meeting with, or talking to service providers, as well as time spent receiving the service or
waiting to receive the service.
Time spent arranging for and purchasing household services provided by someone else also is
classified here. Household services include housecleaning; cooking; lawn care and landscaping;
pet care; tailoring, laundering, and dry cleaning; vehicle maintenance and repairs; and home
repairs, maintenance, and construction.
This category also captures the time spent obtaining government services--such as applying for
food assistance and purchasing government-required licenses or paying fines or fees.
Caring for and helping household members. Time spent doing activities to care for or help any
child (under age 18) or adult in the household, regardless of relationship to the respondent or
the physical or mental health status of the person being helped, is classified here. Caring for
and helping activities for household children and adults are coded separately in subcategories.
Primary childcare activities include time spent providing physical care; playing with children;
reading with children; assisting with homework; attending children's events; taking care of
children's health needs; and dropping off, picking up, and waiting for children. Passive childcare
done as a primary activity (such as "keeping an eye on my son while he swam in the pool") also
is included. A child's presence during the activity is not enough in itself to classify the
activity as childcare. For example, "watching television with my child" is coded as a leisure
activity, not as childcare.
Secondary childcare occurs when people have a child under age 13 "in their care" while doing
activities other than primary childcare. For a complete definition, see the Concepts and
definitions section of this Technical Note.
Caring for and helping household members also includes a range of activities done to benefit
adult members of households, such as providing physical and medical care or obtaining medical
services. Doing something as a favor for or helping another household adult does not automatically
result in classification as a helping activity. For example, a report of "helping my spouse cook
dinner" is considered a household activity (food preparation), not a helping activity, because
cooking dinner benefits the household as a whole. By contrast, doing paperwork for another person
usually benefits the individual, so a report of "filling out an insurance application for my
spouse" is considered a helping activity.
Caring for and helping nonhousehold members. This category includes time spent in activities
done to care for or help others--both children (under age 18) and adults--who do not live in the
household. When done for or through an organization, time spent helping nonhousehold members is
classified as volunteering, rather than as helping nonhousehold members. Care of nonhousehold
children, even when done as a favor or helping activity for another adult, is always classified
as caring for and helping nonhousehold children, not as helping another adult.
Working and work-related activities. This category includes time spent working, doing activities
as part of one's job, engaging in income-generating activities not as part of one's job, and job
search activities. "Working" includes hours spent doing the specific tasks required of one's main
or other job, regardless of location or time of day. "Work-related activities" include activities
that are not obviously work but are done as part of one's job, such as having a business lunch
and playing golf with clients. "Other income-generating activities" are those done "on the side"
or under informal arrangement and are not part of a regular job. Such activities might include
selling homemade crafts, maintaining a rental property, or having a yard sale. These activities
are those for which individuals are paid or will be paid.
Travel time related to working and work-related activities includes time spent traveling to
and from work, as well as time spent traveling for work-related, income-generating, and job search
activities.
Educational activities. Time spent taking classes for a degree or for personal interest
(including attending school virtually and taking internet or other distance-learning courses),
time spent doing research and homework, and time spent taking care of administrative tasks related
to education (such as registering for classes or obtaining a school ID) are included in this
category. For high school students, before- and after-school extracurricular activities (except
sports) also are classified as educational activities. Educational activities do not include
time spent for classes or training received as part of a job. Time spent helping others with
their education-related activities is classified as an activity involving caring for and helping
others.
Organizational, civic, and religious activities. This category captures time spent volunteering
for or through an organization, performing civic obligations, and participating in religious and
spiritual activities. Civic obligations include government-required duties, such as serving jury
duty or appearing in court, and activities that assist or influence government processes, such
as voting or attending town hall meetings. Religious activities include those normally associated
with membership in or identification with specific religions or denominations, such as attending
religious services; participating in choirs, youth groups, or unpaid teaching (unless identified
as volunteer activities); and engaging in personal religious practices, such as praying.
Leisure and sports. The leisure and sports category includes time spent in sports, exercise,
and recreation; socializing and communicating; and other leisure activities. Sports, exercise,
and recreation activities include participating in--as well as attending or watching--sports,
exercise, and recreational activities. Recreational activities include yard games like croquet
or horseshoes, as well as activities like billiards and dancing. Socializing and communicating
includes face-to-face social communication and hosting or attending social functions. Leisure
activities include watching television; reading; relaxing or thinking; playing computer, board,
or card games; using a computer or the internet for personal interest; playing or listening to
music; and other activities, such as attending arts, cultural, and entertainment events.
Telephone calls, mail, and e-mail. This category captures time spent in telephone communication
and household or personal mail or e-mail. This category also includes texting and internet voice
and video calling. Telephone and internet purchases are classified in Purchasing goods and services.
Telephone calls, mail, or e-mail identified as related to work or volunteering are classified as
work or volunteering.
Other activities, not elsewhere classified. This residual category includes security procedures
related to traveling, traveling not associated with a specific activity category, ambiguous
activities that could not be coded, and missing activities. Missing activities result when
respondents did not remember what they did for a period of time, or when they considered an
activity too private or personal to report.
Processing and estimation
After ATUS data are collected, they go through an editing and imputation procedure. Responses to
CPS questions that are re-asked in the ATUS go through the regular CPS edit and imputation
procedures. Some item nonresponses for questions unique to the ATUS (such as where an activity took
place or how much time was spent doing secondary childcare) also are imputed. Missing activities
and missing values for who was present during an activity are never imputed.
ATUS records are weighted quarterly to reduce bias in the estimates due to differences in
sampling and response rates across subpopulations and days of the week. Specifically, the data are
weighted to ensure the following:
--Weekdays represent about 5/7 of the weighted data, and weekend days represent about 2/7 of the
weighted data for the population as a whole and for selected subpopulations. The actual
proportions depend on the number of weekdays and weekend days in a given quarter.
--The sum of the weights is equal to the number of person-days in the quarter for the population
as a whole and for selected subpopulations.
Reliability of the estimates
Statistics based on the ATUS are subject to both sampling and nonsampling error. When a sample,
rather than the entire population, is surveyed, estimates differ from the true population values
they represent. The component of this difference that occurs because samples differ by chance is
known as sampling error, and its variability is measured by the standard error of the estimate.
Sample estimates from a given survey design are unbiased when an average of the estimates from
all possible samples would yield, hypothetically, the true population value. In this case, the
sample estimate and its standard error can be used to construct approximate confidence intervals,
or ranges of values that include the true population value with known probabilities. If the process
of selecting a sample from the population were repeated many times, an estimate made from each
sample, and a suitable estimate of its standard error calculated for each sample, then approximately
90 percent of the intervals from 1.645 standard errors below the estimate to 1.645 standard errors
above the estimate would include the true population value. BLS analyses are generally conducted at
the 90-percent level of confidence.
The ATUS data also are affected by nonsampling error, which is the average difference between
population and sample values for samples generated by a given process. Nonsampling error can occur
for many reasons, including failure to sample a segment of the population, inability to obtain
information for all people in the sample, inability or unwillingness of respondents to provide
correct information, and errors made in the collection or processing of the data. Errors also
could occur if nonresponse is correlated with time use.
Publication requirements
Estimates of average hours per day and participation rates are not published unless there are a
minimum number of respondents representing the given population. Additional publication criteria
are applied that include the number of respondents who reported doing a specified activity and the
standard error or coefficient of variation for the estimate. Estimates that are considered "close
to zero" or that round to 0.00, are published as approximately zero or "z". For a detailed
description of the statistical reliability criteria necessary for publication, please contact
ATUS staff at ATUSinfo@bls.gov.
United States Department of Labor
