For release 10:00 a.m. (EDT) Thursday, June 25, 2020 USDL-20-1275 Technical information: atusinfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/tus Media contact: (202) 691-5902 * PressOffice@bls.gov AMERICAN TIME USE SURVEY -- 2019 RESULTS In 2019, 24 percent of employed persons did some or all of their work at home on days they worked, and 82 percent of employed persons did some or all of their work at their workplace, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. These and other results from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) were released today. They include the average amount of time per day in 2019 that individuals worked, did household activities, and engaged in leisure and sports activities. Additionally, measures of the average time per day spent providing childcare--both as a primary (or main) activity and while doing other things--for the combined years 2015-19 are provided. For a detailed description of ATUS data and methodology, see the Technical Note. Working (by Employed Persons) in 2019 --On days they worked, 24 percent of employed persons did some or all of their work at home and 82 percent of employed persons did some or all of their work at their workplace. On average, those who worked at their workplace worked for 7.9 hours, and those who worked at home did so for 3.3 hours. (See table 6.) --Workers employed in management, business, and financial operations occupations (37 percent) and workers employed in professional and related occupations (33 percent) were more likely than those employed in other occupations to do some or all of their work from home on days they worked. (See table 7.) --Among workers age 25 and over, those with an advanced degree were more likely to work at home than were persons with lower levels of educational attainment--42 percent of those with an advanced degree performed some work at home on days worked, compared with 16 percent of those with a high school diploma and no college. Workers with an advanced degree also were more likely to work on an average day than were those with a high school diploma and no college--74 percent, compared with 66 percent. (See table 6.) --Many more full-time employed persons worked on weekdays than on weekend days or holidays: 87 percent worked on an average weekday, compared with 34 percent on an average weekend day or holiday. Full-time employed persons averaged 8.5 hours of work time on weekdays they worked, and 5.5 hours on weekend days and holidays they worked. (See table 4.) --Multiple jobholders were nearly twice as likely to work on an average weekend day or holiday as were single jobholders--58 percent, compared with 31 percent. (See table 4.) --On the days they worked, employed men worked 48 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 more per day than women--8.3 hours, compared with 7.7 hours. (See table 4.) --On days they worked, women were slightly more likely than men to do some or all of their work at home--26 percent of women, compared with 22 percent of men. (See table 6.) Household Activities in 2019 --On an average day, 85 percent of women and 71 percent of men spent some time doing household activities, such as housework, cooking, lawn care, or household management. (See table 1.) --On the days they did household activities, women spent an average of 2.5 hours on these activities, while men spent 1.9 hours. (See table 1.) --On an average day, 22 percent of men did housework--such as cleaning or laundry-- compared with 46 percent of women. (See table 1.) --On average, more people engaged in housework on weekend days than on weekdays: 41 percent compared with 32 percent. However, the percent of people who did food preparation and cleanup was about the same on weekend days as on weekdays: 59 percent and 60 percent. (See table 2.) --From 2003 to 2019, the share of men doing food preparation and cleanup on an average day increased from 35 percent to 48 percent, and the share of women grew from 66 percent to 70 percent. (See table 1.) Leisure Activities in 2019 --On an average day, nearly everyone age 15 and over (95 percent) engaged in some sort of leisure activity, such as watching TV, socializing, or exercising. Men spent more time in these activities than did women (5.5 hours, compared with 4.9 hours). (See table 1.) --On average, adults age 75 and over spent 7.7 hours engaged in leisure activities per day--more than any other age group; 35- to 44-year-olds spent 4.0 hours engaged in leisure and sports activities per day--less than other age groups. (See table 11A.) --Watching TV was the leisure activity that occupied the most time (2.8 hours per day), accounting for just over half of all leisure time, on average. (See table 11A.) --Socializing and communicating, such as visiting with friends or attending or hosting social events, accounted for an average of 38 minutes per day, and was the next most common leisure activity after watching TV. Individuals spent twice as much time socializing on weekend days (58 minutes) as on weekdays (29 minutes). (See tables 11A and 11B.) --Time spent reading for personal interest varied greatly by age. Individuals age 75 and over averaged 44 minutes of reading per day, whereas individuals ages 15 to 44 read on average for 10 minutes or less per day. (See table 11A.) --Men were slightly more likely than women to participate in sports, exercise, or recreation on any given day--21 percent, compared with 18 percent. On days they participated, men also spent more time doing these activities than did women--1.9 hours, compared with 1.3 hours. (See table 1.) --Employed adults living in households with no children under age 18 engaged in leisure and sports activities for 4.5 hours per day, almost an hour more than employed adults living with a child under age 6. (See table 8B.) Care of Household Children in 2015-19 --Adults living in households with children under age 6 spent an average of 2.2 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--48 minutes per day. Primary childcare is childcare that is done as a main activity, such as providing physical care or reading to children. (See table 9.) --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 27 minutes providing physical care. (See table 9.) --On an average day in 2019, among adults living with children under age 6, those who were not employed spent about an hour more caring for and helping household children than did employed adults--2.8 hours versus 1.7 hours. (See tables 8B and 8C.) --Adults living in households with at least one child under age 6 spent an average of 5.4 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 (2.0 hours) or household activities (1.4 hours). (See table 10.) --Adults living in households with children under age 6 spent more time providing primary childcare on an average weekday (2.2 hours) than on an average weekend day (2.0 hours). However, they spent less time providing secondary childcare on weekdays than on weekend days--4.4 hours, compared with 7.6 hours. (See tables 9 and 10.) Additional Data ATUS 2019 data files are available for users to do their own tabulations and analyses. In accordance with BLS and Census Bureau policies that protect the privacy of survey respondents, personally identifying information does not appear on the data files. The 2019 data files are available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/tus/data.htm.