American Time Use Survey — Multi-Year Microdata Files

The ATUS multi-year microdata files combine five 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 multi-year ATUS microdata files and supporting documentation. The multi-year files combine microdata from the 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 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. Tables showing time-use estimates for major activity categories, selected detailed activities, and selected demographic and labor force characteristics are available on the ATUS Web site under the headings News Releases, 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 and Activity Summary files. They are not available for the Call History, Case History, Trips and Replicate Weights files.
  2. The multi-year ATUS-CPS, Respondent, and Activity Summary files contain the ATUS statistical weighting variable TUFNWGTP generated using the 2006 ATUS statistical weighting method. Researchers wishing to generate standard errors for multi-year estimates should take care to use the single-year replicate weights generated using the 2006 ATUS weighting method. For more details see the ATUS User's Guide (PDF).
  3. The multi-year ATUS-CPS file contains two variables that are allocation flags, but the single-year files contain many more. Please see the 2003-07 ATUS-CPS Data Dictionary (PDF) for details.
  4. The multi-year Respondent file contains two variables that are allocation flags, but the single-year files contain many more. Please see the ATUS 2003-07 Interview Data Dictionary (PDF) for more details.
  5. The 2003-07 Roster and Who multi-year files do not contain any allocation flags. Please see the ATUS 2003-07 Interview Data Dictionary (PDF) for more details.
  6. Because Activity codes have changed somewhat between 2003 and 2007, the Activity and Activity Summary files use activity codes that appear in the 2003-07 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 2003-07 ATUS-CPS Data Dictionary (PDF) and the ATUS 2003-07 Interview Data Dictionary (PDF).

Basic ATUS Data

Multi-Year ATUS Data Dictionaries (PDF Files)

  • ATUS 2003-07 Interview Data Dictionary Describes the Respondent, Roster, Activity, and Who files, and includes names and descriptions of the variables appearing on these files. This dictionary should be used only with the multi-year microdata files.
  • ATUS-CPS 2003-07 Data Dictionary Describes the ATUS-CPS file and includes names and descriptions of the variables appearing on the file. Variables on the ATUS-CPS file were collected 2 to 5 months before the ATUS interview. This dictionary should be used only with the multi-year ATUS-CPS microdata file.
  • Census Industry and Occupation codes

Multi-Year ATUS Activity Lexicons (PDF Files)

Multi-Year ATUS Data Files

  • ATUS 2003-07 Respondent file (zip) (4.7 MB) The Respondent file contains information about ATUS respondents, including their labor force status and earnings.
  • ATUS 2003-07 Roster file (zip) (0.9 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 2003-07 Activity file (zip) (24.0 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 2007, this file uses activity codes that appear in the 2003-07 ATUS Coding Lexicon (PDF).

    UPDATED — The 2003-07 ATUS Activity file, originally released January 30, 2009, was re-released on March 23, 2009, to correct an invalid activity code. Values of TRCODEP=181004 were replaced with TRCODEP=181002. This impacted 52 cases, all in 2003 and 2004.

  • ATUS 2003-07 Activity summary file (zip) (4.7 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 2007, this file uses activity codes that appear in the 2003-07 ATUS Coding Lexicon (PDF)

    UPDATED —The 2003-07 ATUS Activity summary file, originally released January 30, 2009, was re-released on March 23, 2009, with corrected values for GEMETSTA, GTMETSTA and t180002. TRCODEP was removed from the updated Activity summary file.

  • ATUS 2003-07 Who file (zip) (6.2 MB) The Who file includes codes that indicate who was present during each activity.
  • ATUS-CPS 2003-07 file (zip) (24.6 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.

    UPDATED — The 2003-07 ATUS-CPS file, originally released January 30, 2009, was re-released on March 16, 2009, with corrected data for multiple variables, including GEMETSTA, GTMETSTA, HRHHID, HRHHID2, and others.

ATUS Survey Documentation

 

Last Modified Date: March 23, 2009