American Time Use Survey Summary

For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Thursday, June 27, 2024	                                 USDL-24-1208

 Technical information:       (202) 691-6339  *  [email protected]  *  www.bls.gov/tus
 Media contact:               (202) 691-5902  *  [email protected]


                           AMERICAN TIME USE SURVEY -- 2023 RESULTS


In 2023, 35 percent of employed people did some or all of their work at home on days they 
worked, and 73 percent of employed people 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 2023 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 are provided. For a detailed description of ATUS data and 
methodology, see the Technical Note.

Working (by Employed People) in 2023

 --On days they worked, 35 percent of employed people did some or all of their work at home
   and 73 percent of employed people did some or all of their work at their workplace. On
   average, those who worked at home did so for 5.1 hours on days they worked, and those who
   worked at their workplace did so for 7.9 hours. (See table 6.)

 --The share of employed people who spent time working at home on days worked was 
   about the same in 2023 (35 percent) as in 2022 (34 percent). Workers were still more 
   likely to work at home in 2023 than in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic (35 percent,
   compared with 24 percent). (See table 6.)

 --Workers with higher levels of education were more likely to work at home than were 
   those who had less education. Among workers age 25 and over, 52 percent of employed
   people with a bachelor's degree or higher performed some work at home on days worked, 
   compared with 22 percent of those with a high school diploma and no college. There 
   was little difference in the likelihood to work on an average day for workers with 
   a bachelor's degree or higher (68 percent) and those with a high school diploma and 
   no college (67 percent). (See table 6.)  

 --On days they worked in 2023, employed women and men were about equally likely to do 
   some or all of their work at home--36 percent and 34 percent, respectively. Employed 
   women and men also spent about the same amount of time working at home, on days they 
   did so (5.2 hours for women and 5.1 hours for men). (See table 6.)

 --On days they worked, employed men worked 36 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 8.0 hours. (See table 4.)

 --Many more people worked on weekdays than on weekend days: 80 percent of employed people
   worked on an average weekday, compared with 28 percent on an average weekend day. 
   Employed people also spent more time working on weekdays than on weekend days--8.1 hours, 
   compared with 5.5 hours. (See table 4.)

 --Among those who worked on an average weekend day, those with lower levels of education 
   worked more hours than those with higher levels of education. On weekend days they worked,
   high school graduates with no college spent 7.1 hours working, compared with 3.7 hours for
   those with a bachelor's degree or higher. (See table 4.)

Household Activities in 2023

 --On an average day, 86 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 2.7 hours on these 
   activities, while men spent 2.1 hours. (See table 1.)

 --On an average day, 48 percent of women did housework--such as cleaning or laundry--compared 
   with 22 percent of men. (See table 1.)

 --On average, more people engaged in housework on weekend days than on weekdays: 43 percent, 
   compared with 33 percent. However, they were equally likely to engage in food preparation and
   cleanup on weekdays and on weekend days (61 percent). (See table 2.)

Leisure and Sports Activities in 2023

 --On an average day, nearly everyone age 15 and over (94 percent) engaged in some sort of leisure 
   and sport activity, such as watching TV, socializing, or exercising. Men spent more time in these
   activities than did women (5.6 hours, compared with 4.8 hours). (See table 1.)

 --On average, adults age 75 and over spent 7.6 hours engaged in leisure and sports activities per 
   day--more than any other age group. Those ages 35 to 44 averaged 3.9 hours doing leisure and sports 
   activities per day--less than all other age groups. (See table 11A.) 

 --Watching TV was the leisure and sports activity that occupied the most time (2.7 hours per day), 
   accounting for over half of all leisure time, on average (5.2 hours per day). However, people were 
   less likely to spend time watching TV on an average day in 2023 than in 2013--74 percent, compared 
   with 79 percent. (See tables 1 and 11A.)

 --Playing games and computer use for leisure, and socializing and communicating occupied the most amount 
   of time spent in leisure and sports activities after watching TV. On an average day, individuals spent 
   34 minutes playing games and using a computer for leisure and 34 minutes socializing and communicating. 
   They spent twice as much time socializing on weekend days (55 minutes) as on weekdays (25 minutes). 
   (See tables 11A and 11B.)

 --Time spent reading for personal interest and playing games or using a computer for leisure varied 
   greatly by age. On an average day, individuals age 75 and over spent 46 minutes reading while those 
   ages 15 to 19 read for 8 minutes. Conversely, individuals age 15 to 19 spent 1.6 hours playing games
   or using a computer on an average day, while those ages 75 and older spent 29 minutes doing so. 
   (See table 11A.)

 --Employed adults living in households with no children under age 18 engaged in leisure and sports 
   activities for 4.6 hours per day, over an hour more than did employed adults living with a child 
   under age 6 (3.3 hours). (See table 8B.)

Care of Household Children in 2023

 --Adults living in households with children under age 6 spent an average of 2.3 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--52 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 1.2 hours
   providing physical care (such as bathing or feeding a child) to household children; by contrast, men spent
   34 minutes providing physical care. (See table 9.)

 --On average, among adults living with children under age 6, those who were not employed spent over an hour 
   more per day caring for and helping household children than did employed adults--3.0 hours versus 1.9 hours. 
   (See tables 8B and 8C.)

 --Adults living in households with at least one child under age 13 spent an average of 5.1 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 13 was most commonly provided while doing leisure activities (1.9 hours) or household activities 
   (1.3 hours). (See table 10.)

 --Adults living in households with children under age 6 spent about the same amount of time providing primary 
   childcare on an average weekday and weekend day (2.3 hours). However, they spent less time providing secondary 
   childcare on weekdays (4.3 hours) than on weekend days (7.6 hours). (See tables 9 and 10.)

Additional Data 

ATUS 2023 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 2023 data files are available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/tus/data.htm.