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In the Interests of Time...
WASHINGTON -- On the days that they worked, employed men worked about an hour morethan employed women -- 8 versus 7.1 hours. And, employed adult women spent about an hour more per day than employed adult men doing household activities and caring for household members. These are just two examples of information derived from the first-ever American Time Use Survey just released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.This new information provides a context for how work fits into people's lives, showing how people balance leisure and family time with work and other activities, such as childcare and meal preparation -- and how time use varies across demographic and labor force groups, bureau officials said. Here are major findings of the new study:On an "average day" in 2003, persons age 15 and over slept about 8.6 hours, spent 5.1 hours doing leisure and sports activities, worked for 3.7 hours, and spent 1.8 hours doing household activities. The remaining 4.8 hours were spent in a variety of other activities, including eating and drinking, attending school, and shopping. Employed persons worked 7.6 hours on average on the days that they worked. Work hours were longer on weekdays than on weekend days -- 7.9 versus 5.7 hours. Many more people worked on weekdays than on weekend days. About 82% of employed persons worked on an average weekday, compared with 33% on an average weekend day.Multiple jobholders were twice as likely as single jobholders to report work on an average Saturday or Sunday. Weekend work also was more often reported by self-employed workers than by wage and salary workers.On an average day, 84% of women and 63% of men spent some time doing household activities, such as housework, cooking, lawn care, or financial and other household management. 20% of men reported doing housework -- such as cleaning or doing laundry -compared with 55% of women. About 35% of men did food preparation or clean-up versus 66% of women.Adult women in households with children under age 18 spent about 1.7 hours providing childcare as their primary activity. Adult men in such households spent about 50 minutes. In households with the youngest child under age 6, time spent providing primary child care averaged 2.7 hours for women and 1.2 hours for men. Physical care, playing with children, and travel related to child care were the most common primary child care activities.On an average day in 2003, nearly everyone (96%) age 15 and over reported some sort of leisure or sports activity such as watching TV, socializing, or exercising.Including the small proportion of the population that reported no leisure activities, men spent more time doing leisure activities (5.4 hours) than women (4.8 hours). Watching TV was the leisure activity that occupied the most time, accounting for about half of leisure time on average for both men and women. Socializing, such as visiting with friends or attending or hosting social events, was the next most common leisure activity, accounting for about three-quarters of an hour per day for both sexes.Men were more likely than women to participate in sports on any given day, 19 versus 16%.Men also spent more time in sports activities on the days they participated, 2 versus 1.3 hours.In households with children under age 6, employed adult women spent 3.3 hours per day in leisure and sports activities. Those in households without children spent 4.2 hours per day.Time spent in leisure and sports activities was greatest at the youngest and oldest ages. Persons ages 15 to 24 averaged 5.5 hours of leisure time per day while those age 65 and over -- most of whom were not employed -- reported 7.2 hours of leisure. Individuals ages 55 to 64 reported 5.3 hours. Persons ages 25 to 54 spent less time doing leisure activities but still recorded more than four hours per day.Older individuals spent a larger proportion of their leisure time than others watching TV, reading, and relaxing/thinking. Younger persons spent a relatively larger share of their time socializing, playing sports, and playing games or using a computer for leisure. Reading as a primary activity varied greatly by age. The oldest age group averaged an hour of reading per day, while the youngest averaged about 8 minutes.Visit the Bureau of Labor Statistics "