Technical Note
The estimates in this release are 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. In the 2-year period of 2021–22, approximately 17,000
individuals were interviewed for the ATUS; of these, approximately 2,500 individuals were identified as
eldercare providers. Data for the combined years of 2021–22 were used to facilitate a more in-depth analysis
of eldercare.
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Survey methodology
ATUS sample households are chosen from the households that completed their eighth (final) interview for the
Current Population Survey (CPS), the nation’s monthly labor force survey. ATUS sample households are selected
to ensure that estimates will be nationally representative of the civilian noninstitutional population. One
individual age 15 or over--referred to as the designated person--is randomly chosen from each sampled household.
This person is interviewed by telephone once about his or her activities on the day before the interview.
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 persons 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
persons 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 their main activity. If none can be identified, the interviewer
records the first activity mentioned. After completing the time diary, interviewers ask additional questions,
including questions to identify eldercare providers and activities done as eldercare. Questions on eldercare
were added to the survey in 2011.
After completing the interview, 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.
Descriptions of categories shown in this release can be found in the Activity definitions section of this Technical
Note. The ATUS Coding Lexicons can be accessed at www.bls.gov/tus/lexicons.htm.
Concepts and definitions
Average day. The average day measure reflects an average distribution across all persons in the reference
population and all days of the week.
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 population, including those of respondents who did not do a particular activity on their
diary day. These estimates reflect how many population members engaged in an activity and the amount
of time they spent doing it.
--Average hours per day, persons 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.
Condition related to aging. An ongoing ailment or physical or emotional limitation that typically affects older
people, such as becoming more frail; having difficulty seeing, hearing, or physically moving; becoming more forgetful;
tiring more quickly; or having specific medical ailments that are more common among older adults. It also refers to
existing conditions that become progressively worse as one ages.
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 Monday.
Eldercare. Eldercare is providing unpaid care or assistance to an individual who needed help because of a
condition related to aging. This care can be provided by a family member or non-family member. Care can be provided
in the recipient’s home, the provider’s home, or a care facility such as a nursing home.
Eldercare can involve a range of care activities, such as assisting with grooming and feeding, preparing meals,
arranging medical care, and providing transportation. Eldercare also can involve providing companionship or being
available to assist when help is needed, and thus it can be associated with nearly any activity.
Estimates of the time spent providing eldercare are derived by summing the durations of activities during which
respondents provided care or assistance for an adult who needed help because of a condition related to aging. These
estimates never include times the respondent reported sleeping, grooming, or engaging in personal care services.
Eldercare provider. An individual who provided eldercare more than one time in the 3 to 4 months prior to the
interview day. The time frame varies slightly by respondent because the question asks about care provided between the
first day of a given reference month and the interview day. Estimates are restricted to eldercare providers caring
for at least one person age 65 or older.
Employment status
--Employed. All persons 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, 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. Persons are not employed if they do not meet the conditions for employment. People who are not employed
include those classified as unemployed as well as those classified as not in the labor force (using CPS definitions).
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.
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 the Fourth of July in 2021 and Christmas Day in 2022.
Activity definitions
The following definitions describe the activities associated with eldercare appearing in this release. These are diary
activities that survey respondents identified as ones during which they had provided care or assistance for an adult who
needed help because of a condition related to aging.
Eating and drinking. All time spent eating or drinking (except eating and drinking done as part of a work or volunteer
activity) is classified here.
Household activities. Household activities are activities done by people 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, or when done for a
nonhousehold member.
Purchasing goods and services. This category includes time spent obtaining, receiving, and purchasing consumer goods,
professional services, household services, and government services. Consumer purchases include most purchases and rentals
of consumer goods. Professional services refer to financial services and banking, legal services, medical and adult care
services, real estate services, and veterinary services. 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 stamps--and purchasing government-required licenses or paying fines or fees.
Caring for and helping household members. Time spent doing activities to care for members of the household, regardless
of relationship to the respondent or the physical or mental health status of the person being helped, is classified here.
This category includes a range of activities done to benefit members of households, such as providing physical and medical
care or obtaining medical services.
Caring for and helping nonhousehold members. This category includes time spent in activities done to care for or help
individuals 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.
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 people are paid or will be paid.
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.
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 handling household
or personal mail or e-mail. This category also includes texting and Internet voice and video calling.
Traveling. This category includes all travel, regardless of mode or purpose, as well as security procedures related to
traveling.
Other activities, not elsewhere classified. This is a residual category intended to capture activities not elsewhere
classified in each table. These might be ambiguous activities that could not be coded, missing activities, or activities
that occurred very infrequently. Missing activities result when respondents do not remember what they did for a period of
time, or when they consider an activity too private or personal to report. This category includes a small amount of time
that was spent in educational activities, as no educational activities category appears in the tables.
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 also are 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 (the population times the number of days in the quarter).
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 the failure to sample a
segment of the population, inability to obtain information for all respondents 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.
Nonsampling error and eldercare. Eldercare done for a spouse or partner may be underreported, especially when the care
provided has only recently become necessary. For example, a survey respondent who has always prepared the family dinner
may not view cooking as an eldercare activity; if her husband is no longer capable of preparing his own meals, though, he
depends on this assistance and it meets the definition of eldercare.
Additionally, nonsampling error affects data on the frequency of care. Survey respondents were asked how often they
provided eldercare in recent months and whether they provided eldercare on the diary day. Information about care provided
on the diary day was used to calculate daily participation rates. There are some inconsistencies between the reported
frequency of care and the actual provision of eldercare on an average day. For example, in 2021-2022, only 65 percent of
eldercare providers who self-reported providing care "daily" actually provided eldercare on an average day. This
discrepancy reflects some respondents’ choice of "daily" rather than "several times a week" or another option to best
describe their eldercare frequency, even while acknowledging they had not provided care on the diary day.
ATUS publication standards
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. 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
