September 15, 2004 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

First results from survey of time use

The new American Time Use Survey (ATUS) marks the first time that a federal statistical agency has produced estimates on how Americans spend their time.

[Chart data—TXT]

The ATUS collects data on the activities people do during the day and how much time they spend doing them. Respondents were interviewed only once and reported their activities for the 24-hour period from 4 a.m. on the day before the interview until 4 a.m. on the day of the interview—their "diary day."

Among the various types of information available from ATUS are data on working at home. For example, in 2003 on days that they worked, about 1 in 5 employed persons did some or all of their work at home. Self-employed persons were far more likely than wage and salary workers to have done some work at home—51 versus 16 percent. Multiple jobholders also were much more likely to work at home than were persons with one job.

These data are from the American Time Use Survey. For more information, see "Time Use Survey—First Results Announced by BLS" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 04-1797.