AMERICAN TIME USE SURVEY -- 2011 RESULTS!

In 2011, 16 percent of the U.S. civilian noninstitutional population age 15 and over were eldercare providers, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This and other information about eldercare providers and the time they spent providing care were collected for the first time in the 2011 American Time Use Survey (ATUS). This release also includes the average amount of time per day in 2011 that individuals spent in various activities, such as working, household activities, childcare, and leisure and sports activities.  

Eldercare in 2011

   --Of the 39.8 million eldercare providers in the civilian noninstitutional population, the majority (56 percent) were women. Eldercare providers are those who provided unpaid care to someone over the age of 65 who needed help because of a condition related to aging.

    --Individuals ages 45 to 54 and 55 to 64 were the most likely to provide eldercare (23 and 22 percent, respectively), followed by those age 65 and over (16 percent).

   --Sixty-nine percent of eldercare providers cared for only one person in 2011.

   --Forty-two percent of eldercare providers cared for a parent.

   --Twenty-three percent of eldercare providers were parents of 1 or more household children under age 18.  

   --On average, 24 percent of eldercare providers cared for at least 1 eldercare recipient per day. Eldercare can involve a range of care activities, such as assisting with grooming, preparing meals, and providing transportation. Eldercare also can involve providing companionship or being available to assist when help is needed, and thus eldercare can be associated with nearly any activity. 

   --On days they provided eldercare, persons spent an average of 3.1 hours providing this care. Just over half of this time was associated with leisure activities (1.0 hour) and household activities (42 minutes).

  

Working (by Employed Persons) in 2011

   --On days that they worked, employed persons spent an average of 7.6 hours working. More hours were worked, on average, on weekdays than on weekend days--8.0 hours compared with 5.7 hours.

    --On the days that they worked, employed men worked 47 minutes more than employed women. This difference partly reflects women's greater likelihood of working part time. However, even among full-time workers (those usually working 35 hours or more per week), men worked longer than women--8.3 hours compared with 7.8 hours.  

   --Many more persons worked on weekdays than on weekend days: 82 percent of employed persons worked on an average weekday, compared with 35 percent on an average weekend day. These estimates include individuals who worked on days they were not normally scheduled to work. For example, the 35 percent of workers who worked on a weekend day includes those whose jobs are typically scheduled on weekends, as well as those who usually work on weekdays but spent time working on the weekend. (See

   --On the days that they worked, 21 percent of employed persons did some or all of their work at home, and 85 percent did some or all of their work at their workplace. Men and women were about equally likely to do some or all of their work at home.

   --Multiple jobholders were more likely to work on an average weekend day than were single jobholders--57 percent compared with 33 percent. Multiple jobholders were also more likely to work at home than single jobholders--31 percent compared with 20 percent. 

   --Self-employed workers were three times more likely than wage and salary workers to have done some work at home on days worked--56 percent compared with 18 percent.

    --On the days that they worked, 36 percent of employed persons age 25 and over with a bachelor's degree or higher did some work at home, compared with only 11 percent of those with less than a high school diploma.  

Household Activities in 2011

   --On an average day, 83 percent of women and 65 percent of men spent some time doing household activities such as housework, cooking, lawn care, or financial and other household management.

   --On the days that they did household activities, women spent an average of 2.6 hours on such activities, while men spent 2.1 hours.

  

   --On an average day, 19 percent of men did housework--such as cleaning or doing laundry--compared with 48 percent of women. Forty percent of men did food preparation or cleanup, compared with 66 percent of women.

Leisure Activities in 2011

    --On an average day, nearly everyone age 15 and over engaged in some sort of leisure activity (95 percent), such as watching TV, socializing, or exercising. Of those who engaged in leisure activities, men spent more time in these activities (5.8 hours) than did women (5.2 hours).

   --Watching TV was the leisure activity that occupied the most time (2.8 hours per day), accounting for about half of leisure time, on average, for those age 15 and over. Socializing, such as visiting with friends or attending or hosting social events, was the next most common leisure activity, accounting for nearly three-quarters of an hour per day. 

   --Men were a little more likely than women to participate in sports, exercise, or recreation on any given day--20 percent compared with 17 percent. On the days that they participated, men also spent more time in these activities than did women--1.9 hours compared with 1.3 hours.

   --On an average day, adults age 75 and over spent 7.4 hours engaged in leisure and sports activities--more than any other age group; 25-to 44-year-olds spent 4.2 hours engaged in leisure and sports activities--less than other age groups.  

   --Time spent reading for personal interest and playing games or using a computer for leisure varied greatly by age. Individuals age 75 and over averaged 58 minutes of reading per weekend day and 21 minutes playing games or using a computer for leisure. Conversely, individuals ages 15 to 19 read for an average of 7 minutes per weekend day while spending 1.2 hours playing games or using a computer for leisure. 

   --Employed adults living in households with no children under age 18 engaged in leisure activities for 4.5 hours per day, an hour more than employed adults living with a child under age 6.  

Care of Household Children (by Adults in Households with Children) for the period 2007-11

    --Adults living in households with children under age 6 spent an average of 2.0 hours per day providing primary childcare to household children. Adults living in households where the youngest child was between the ages of 6 and 17 spent less than half as much time providing primary childcare to household children--47 minutes per day. Primary childcare is childcare that is done as a main activity, such as physical care of children and reading to or talking with children.

    --On an average day, among adults living in households with children under age 6, women spent 1.1 hours providing physical care (such as bathing or feeding a child) to household children; by contrast, men spent 26 minutes providing physical care.

    --Adults living in households with at least one child under age 6 spent an average of 5.5 hours per day providing secondary childcare--that is, they had at least one child in their care while doing activities other than primary childcare. Secondary childcare provided by adults living in households with children under age 6 was most commonly provided while doing leisure activities (2.2 hours) or household activities (1.3 hours).

   --Adults living in households with children under age 6 spent more time providing primary childcare on an average weekday (2.1 hours) than on an average weekend day (1.8 hours). However, they spent less time providing secondary childcare on weekdays than on weekend days--4.6 hours compared with 7.7 hours. (See tables 9 and 10.)

 Source: http://www.bls.gov/