American Time Use Survey (ATUS)
Organization
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Description
- Measures the amount of time people spend doing various activities, such as paid work, childcare, volunteering, and socializing.
- The survey also provides information on the amount of time people spend in many other activities, such as religious activities, socializing, exercising, and relaxing.
Vintage/Release Frequency
Annually since 2003
Observational Unit
Household member
Collection Methodology
- Individuals are randomly selected from a subset of households that have completed their eighth month of interviews for the Current Population Survey (CPS). ATUS respondents are interviewed only one time about how they spent their time on the previous day, where they were, and whom they were with.
- Civilian noninstitutional population.
Proposal or Application required?
No
Special Notes
- Data collection was suspended in 2020 from mid-March to mid-May for the safety of ATUS staff. Annual 2020 estimates cannot be produced due to the 2-month suspension in data collection, and thus the ATUS Database was not updated with 2020 data.