The Allocation of Time in America 2003 and 2018

Abstract

This paper compares the allocation of time by Americans in 2003 and 2018 using published data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS). The 168 hours available in a week were allocated to three major categories of activities: necessary time, work, and leisure. Necessary time includes activities that satisfy physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual needs. Work is composed of market activities (labor, human capital acquisition (pre-labor) and related activities such as commuting, coffee breaks, and job search) and non-market activities (home production and volunteer time). Leisure is measured as the residual. The comparison between 2003 and 2018 was performed for the entire population 15 years and over and for selected age and income groups. The main conclusion is the remarkable stability of the allocation of time, especially time spent working. When the 2018 data are standardized to the age distribution of the population in 2003, the time per person 15+ allocated to work is lower in 2018 by 1 hour and 45 minutes per week (15 minutes per day). This reduction is due entirely to non-market work which fell by 2 hours and 19 minutes per week. The time allocated to market work actually increased by 34 minutes per week.