Millennials spent less time providing care in 2019 compared with Generation X in 2003

Millennials, who were ages 23 to 38 in 2019, spent on average 6 minutes less per day caring for and helping household members than did members of Generation X, who were ages 23 to 38 in 2003. This difference is largely because millennials spent less time per day caring for and helping household children than did Generation X (50 minutes compared with 56 minutes). These differences are not surprising, considering that millennials were less likely to be parents of household children than were Generation X (44 percent compared with 55 percent).

Millennials also spent about half as much time caring for and helping nonhousehold members on a given day in 2019 as did Generation X in 2003 (7 minutes compared with 14 minutes).

Millennials spent on average nearly twice as much time per day in 2019 providing care for animals and pets as did Generation X in 2003 (7 minutes compared with 4 minutes).

These data are from the American Time Use Survey. For more information, see “Time use of millennials and Generation X: differences across time,” by Michelle Freeman in the January 2022 issue of the Monthly Labor Review.