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American Time Use Survey
Bureau of Labor Statistics > American Time Use Survey > Home

American Time Use Survey—ATUS 2003‐2019 Multi‐Year Microdata Files

The ATUS multi-year microdata files combine several years of previously-released and publicly-available ATUS microdata. Because changes in time use occur relatively slowly over time, it is possible to combine multiple years of ATUS data; doing so facilitates more detailed analyses about how Americans spend their time.

About ATUS Data

About the Multi-Year ATUS Microdata Files

This page includes links to the 2003-2019 multi-year ATUS microdata files and supporting documentation. These multi-year files combine microdata from the 2003 to 2019 ATUS. Researchers can use these multi-year ATUS microdata files to produce their own time-use estimates or do other analyses. Each ZIP file contains a data file along with computer programs that will read the data file into SAS, SPSS, and Stata. The data files are in CSV-format (comma-separated values).

These files do not contain time-use estimates. Time-use estimates for various activities and selected demographic and labor force characteristics are available on the ATUS Web site under the headings News Releases, ATUS Database, Charts and Tables.

Differences Between the Multi-Year and Single-Year ATUS Microdata Files

While the multi-year files are similar in structure to the single-year files, there are several important differences, some, but not all, of which are mentioned here:

  1. Multi-year files are only available for the ATUS-CPS, ATUS Respondent, Roster, Who, Activity, Activity Summary, Eldercare Roster, Case History and Replicate Weights files. They are not available for the Call History and Trips files.
  2. The 2003-2019 multi-year ATUS-CPS file contains three variables that are allocation flags, but the single-year files contain many more. Please see the 2003-2019 ATUS-CPS Data Dictionary (PDF) for details.
  3. The 2003-2019 multi-year Respondent file contains two variables that are allocation flags, but the single-year files contain many more. Please see the ATUS 2003-2019 Interview Data Dictionary (PDF) for more details.
  4. The 2011-2019 Eldercare Roster file and the 2003-2019 Roster and Who multi-year files do not contain any allocation flags. Please see the ATUS 2003-2019 Interview Data Dictionary (PDF) for more details.
  5. Because Activity codes changed somewhat between 2003 and 2019, the Activity and Activity Summary files use activity codes that appear in the 2003-2019 ATUS Coding Lexicon (PDF).

There are other differences between the multi-year and single-year ATUS files. For more detailed information on these differences, please see the 2003-2019 ATUS-CPS Data Dictionary (PDF) and the ATUS 2003-2019 Interview Data Dictionary (PDF).

ATUS Data

Multi-Year ATUS Data Dictionaries (PDF Files)

Multi-Year ATUS Activity Lexicons (PDF Files)

Multi-Year ATUS Data Files

  • ATUS 2003-2019 Respondent file (zip) (14.5 MB) The Respondent file contains information about ATUS respondents, including their labor force status and earnings.
  • ATUS 2003-2019 Roster file (zip) (2.8 MB) The Roster file contains information about household members and nonhousehold children (under 18) of ATUS respondents. It includes information such as age and sex.
  • ATUS 2003-2019 Activity file (zip) (69.9 MB) The Activity file contains information about how ATUS respondents spent their diary day. It includes information such as activity codes, activity start and stop times, and locations. Because Activity codes have changed somewhat between 2003 and 2019, this file uses activity codes that appear in the 2003-2019 ATUS Coding Lexicon (PDF).
  • ATUS 2003-2019 Activity summary file (zip) (13.4 MB) The Activity summary file contains information about the total time each ATUS respondent spent doing each activity on the diary day. Because Activity codes have changed somewhat between 2003 and 2019, this file uses activity codes that appear in the 2003-2019 ATUS Coding Lexicon (PDF)
  • ATUS 2003-2019 Who file (zip) (17.4 MB) The Who file includes codes that indicate who was present during each activity.
  • ATUS-CPS 2003-2019 file (zip) (86.1 MB) The ATUS-CPS file contains information about each household member of all individuals selected to participate in ATUS. The information on the ATUS-CPS file was collected 2 to 5 months before the ATUS interview.
  • ATUS 2011-2019 Eldercare Roster file (zip) (0.2 MB) The ATUS Eldercare Roster file contains information about people for whom the respondent provided care. Eldercare data have been collected since 2011.
  • ATUS 2003-2019 Replicate weights file (zip) (245.8 MB) The Replicate weights file contains miscellaneous ATUS weights.
  • ATUS 2005-2019 Case history file (zip) (4.0 MB) The ATUS Case history file contains information about the interview process, such as interviewer identifiers and interview outcome codes.
  • CORRECTED — The Case history file, originally released on June 25, 2020, was re-released on November 30, 2021 with corrected data for the variable TUINCENT. TUINCENT identifies incentive cases, but excludes incentive expansion cases. No other data were changed.

ATUS Survey Documentation

 

Last Modified Date: November 30, 2021