1220-0175 (Revision)
October 2019
SUPPORTING STATEMENT A
Necessity of the Information Collected
The purpose of this request is for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to extend clearance for the collection of time-use data by the American Time Use Survey (ATUS). There are no changes to the ATUS interview. However, BLS is requesting approval for an incentive study during the extension period:
BLS is proposing a study to test the effectiveness of using $0, $5, and $10 cash incentives on survey response. The study will test the effectiveness of using cash incentives instead of a prepaid debit card. It will also test whether a $5 or $10 cash incentive can boost survey response among certain underrepresented populations.
The ATUS, which began full production in January 2003, is the Nation’s first federally-administered, continuous survey on time use in the United States. A nationally representative sample of persons from households completing their final month of interviews for the Current Population Survey (CPS) is drawn for ATUS. BLS contracts with the Census Bureau to conduct one interview with one person age 15 or over from each selected household. The primary focus of the interview is on activities done "yesterday" (from 4 a.m. on the day before the interview to 4 a.m. on the day of the interview), though additional questions are asked about work during the prior week.
Collection of time-use data fits well within the BLS mission, as outlined in Title 29, United States Code, Section 1:
“The general design and duties of the Bureau of Labor Statistics shall be to acquire and diffuse among the people of the United States useful information on subjects connected with labor, in the most general and comprehensive sense of that word, and especially upon its relation to capital, the hours of labor, the earnings of laboring men and women, and the means of promoting their material, social, intellectual, and moral prosperity.”
Prior to the collection of the ATUS, “inadequate data on time use [was] the single most important gap in Federal statistics,” according to economist William Nordhaus, (Nordhaus, 1997). Approximately 38 other countries collect time-use data.1 Such data are considered important indicators of both quality of life and the contribution of non-market work to national economies. They measure, for example, time spent caring for children, volunteering, working, sleeping, or doing leisure activities. Using time-use data in conjunction with wage data allows analysts to better compare production between nations that have different mixes of market and non-market activities. In the United States, several existing Federal surveys collect income and wage data for individuals and families, and analysts often use such measures of material prosperity as proxies for quality of life. Time-use data substantially augment these quality-of-life measures.
2. Needs and Uses
The major purpose of the ATUS is to develop nationally representative estimates of how people spend their time. Many ATUS users are interested in the amount of time Americans spend doing non-market work activities. These include unpaid childcare and eldercare, housework, and volunteering. The survey also provides information on the amount of time people spend in many other activities, such as traveling, religious activities, socializing, exercising, and relaxing. To produce these estimates, data are collected not only about what people did, but also about where and with whom each activity occurred, and whether the activities were paid work or work-related. This additional contextual information enables coders to assign codes that describe each activity with consistency.
Because the ATUS sample is drawn from a subset of households that completed interviews for the CPS, the same demographic information collected from that survey is available for the ATUS respondents. Comparisons of activity patterns across characteristics such as sex, race, age, disability status, and educational attainment of the respondent, as well as the presence of children and the number of adults living in the respondent’s household, are possible. The data are collected on an ongoing basis and estimates for 16 years are available as time series (as of June 2019), enabling analysts to identify changes in how people spend their time. Also, the ATUS activity coding lexicon was designed to ensure that time-use information in the United States can be compared, at broad levels, with information from other countries.
To ensure the widest distribution of information, BLS releases annual and quarterly data to the public once a year in the form of published tables. Public use data sets are also available, along with thousands of time-use data series. Special analyses by BLS and outside analysts appear in the Monthly Labor Review (published by BLS) and in other publications. As of June 2019, 16 years of ATUS data have been published (2003-2018), and the data have received wide interest from a variety of users, including economists, sociologists, health researchers, journalists, and businesses. ATUS information has also been of interest to government policymakers, educators, lawyers, and others, as the survey information has numerous applications. In addition to appearing in many national newspapers, magazines, and television programs, ATUS data have been used in articles appearing in many academic journals. Lists of publications, both BLS and non-BLS, using ATUS data are available on the ATUS Web site (https://www.bls.gov/tus/research.htm).
The survey captures not only hours worked on a typical weekday or weekend day, but also shows the distribution of where work is being done—at home, at a workplace, or somewhere else2—and whether, over time, these distributions are changing. In addition to providing information about time spent in work activities, ATUS data have been analyzed to gain insight into commuting patterns and other behaviors associated with work.
Unpaid productive activities, such as providing childcare or informal eldercare, volunteering, and doing housework, are critical to society and to national well-being. ATUS data provide more comprehensive information about these activities on a continuous basis. Analysts have used ATUS measures of time spent doing such activities to estimate the contribution they make to overall economic activity.
For decades, economists have acknowledged that changes in GDP may reflect changes in institutional arrangements rather than actual changes in economic activity (Landefeld and McCulla, 2000). For example, under traditional methods used to value the Nation’s output, the worker who decides he will wash and iron his own dress shirts rather than send them to the cleaners as he has previously done contributes to a decline in GDP, because the washing and ironing activity is no longer captured as a market transaction. However, ATUS respondents report on the ways they use their own time. The availability of this detailed information allows economists to more accurately value household production by estimating the value of the time (labor services) used to produce goods and services. Childcare and eldercare, meal preparation, and home repair projects are just a few of the non-market activities that ATUS data can be used to evaluate. Bureau of Economic Analysis researcher Benjamin Bridgman used these data as a critical input to update estimates of satellite accounts that measure the value of unpaid work, including childcare and household activities (Bridgman, 2016).
International organizations and researchers have used the ATUS data to compare the United States to other countries. Both the UN and the OECD have published ATUS estimates in order to compare time use of Americans to those living in other countries.
Sociologists have used the data to examine social contact, such as how much time people spend with their children, colleagues, or family members. Many are interested in the time mothers and fathers spend doing household work and childcare, how this work is divided by sex, and how it has changed over time. They also have examined the degree to which people are trading off time spent with family or in leisure activities to do market or non-market work.
The ATUS data may help Federal, State, and local government policy makers more fully understand noneconomic, as well as economic, effects of policy decisions, and to better determine when to develop new or change existing policies to address the needs of our society. For example, GAO used ATUS eldercare data in a 2019 analysis on caregiving and retirement security. ATUS data were also utilized in a USDA-authored Congressional report on access to healthy food.
Health researchers have used ATUS data to explore the amount of time spent in activities that impact Americans’ health, such as sleeping, eating, preparing meals, and doing physical exercises. The data have also been used to analyze Americans’ exposure to traffic accident risk.
The questions on eldercare align closely with the ATUS goal of collecting information about time spent in unpaid, productive activities. Eldercare is a topic of interest to many researchers, particularly because the U.S. population is aging, and it has drawn a number of new users to the ATUS data.
Use of Information Technology
The Census Bureau, which collects and processes the data for BLS, uses computer-assisted methods to conduct interviews and record respondent information. Census Bureau interviewers conduct all interviews over the telephone, completing the respondent’s time-use diary using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI). Using an automated call scheduler and hourly reports from the system, cases are presented to interviewers in order depending on respondents’ designated interview days, pre-set appointment times, CPS information on the best time to call respondents, and other information.
The ATUS questionnaire is built in Blaise, a Windows-based software package developed by Statistics Netherlands and adopted as the Census Bureau standard. The software’s graphical user interface (GUI) enables the usage of data entry grids that accept many entries on one screen. ATUS respondents verbally report to the interviewer about the activities of the previous day—what they did, who was with them, where they were, and how long the activity lasted. The instrument enables interviewers to enter the information for each activity into the diary grid in any order, and it automatically computes the duration of an activity after each entry. This feature enables the interview to be flexible, making reporting easier for respondents. (See Attachment A for the main ATUS instrument.)
The ATUS activity coding application is programmed using Microsoft Visual Basic .NET 2010 for Client User interface and Microsoft SQL Server 2008R2 for Database. Diary entries captured during CATI data collection are imported into the coding application. Coders view the diary in a table format with open fields for the assignment of the 6-digit numeric code matching the activity. The application displays the lexicon of activity descriptions as well as dependent information such as the household roster and the respondent's employment information. The coder uses the lexicon to choose and assign a numeric code at each of the three tiers of detail for each activity requiring a code. The application includes a search feature that enables coders to automatically search the lexicon for a match on the chosen activity rather than manually reviewing the lexicon display to determine the appropriate 6-digit code.
A tracking system is in place to manage incentive payments. (See Part A, section 9.)
Efforts to Identify Duplication
No private or public institutions conduct time-use surveys at regular intervals. Two academic institutions, the Universities of Maryland and Michigan, collected time-use data periodically from 1965 until 2001, but their data collection methodologies changed over time, and no continuous survey was ever conducted in the United States prior to the ATUS. As a result, analysts must infer (or ignore) patterns that occurred between survey periods, making reliable trend analyses difficult. Continuous data collection through the ATUS allows analysts to determine if, and by how much, time-use patterns are changing over time.
Additionally, the ATUS sample size is large enough to enable demographic comparisons of time use not possible in earlier studies. Demographic analyses of pre-ATUS time-use surveys were limited because sample sizes were only large enough to yield valid statistical results at aggregate levels. The 1985 time-use survey conducted by the University of Maryland was the largest of the pre-ATUS U.S. time-use surveys completed, yet it only had 5,300 respondents—a fraction of the annual number of ATUS respondents (Robinson and Godbey, 1997). The ATUS sample is also more demographically controlled than those in previous surveys. Because the sample is drawn from the CPS, households are stratified by demographic characteristics. Black and Hispanic households and households with children are oversampled to ensure they are adequately represented in the ATUS data. (See Part B, section 1.)
5. Minimizing Burden to Small Entities
The ATUS is a survey of individuals in households and does not involve small businesses or other small entities.
Consequences of Less Frequent Collection
The 10,540 ATUS interviews are spread across 12 months so that a large annual sample size can be achieved at the same time that the ability to examine seasonal patterns across years can be maintained. Less frequent collection would reduce the analytical value of trend analyses and would eliminate analyses of seasonal patterns in time use.
In addition, continuous data collection operations are more efficient to manage than larger-scale, less frequent operations. A stable, well-trained staff has been developed and cases are spread evenly across the weeks and months. Each month’s ATUS sample is introduced over 4 weeks (1/4 sample each week). Each case has up to an 8-week field period. Interviewing respondents about their time use for a 24-hour period in such a way that reports can be consistently and accurately coded requires significant training and practice. Likewise, experience and familiarity with the coding rules and coding lexicon are extremely important to coders for producing accurate results. Less frequent data collection could seriously impact training costs and impede performance.
Special Circumstances
The ATUS requires the use of an activity coding classification system not in use in any other Federal survey. A coding lexicon was developed to classify reported activities into 17 major categories, with two additional levels of detail. (ATUS coding lexicons can be found on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/tus/lexicons.htm). BLS designed the ATUS lexicon by studying classification systems used for time-use surveys in other countries, drawing most heavily on the Australian time-use survey lexicon, and then determining the best way to produce analytically relevant data for the United States. The coding lexicon developed for the ATUS was extensively tested by Census Bureau coders and by coders at Westat (Westat, 2001) prior to the start of full production in 2003. Development of the ATUS lexicon is described in Shelley (2005).
No other special circumstances apply.
Federal Register Notice/Consultation Outside the Agency
Two comments were received as a result of a Federal Register notice published in 84 FR 24825 on May 29, 2019.
One comment expressed support to continuing ATUS, stating that the “American Time Use Survey provides unique (and likely underutilized) data in a large sample on how Americans spend their time.” However, the commenter made the following recommendations on how to enhance the ATUS: add a new sleeping category to the ATUS lexicon that captures separate resting and transitional sleep periods to get more accurate sleep estimates; include questions regarding shift work; include assessments of health; and include subjective sleep ratings.
The ATUS category for sleep currently includes sleeping as well as transitional sleeping stages such as dozing off, falling asleep, and napping. Adding a separate lexicon category for transitional sleeping periods would require additional questions and interviewer probes to help respondents identify when they were sleeping or in a transitional sleep stage. This would be problematic to collect, as it may be difficult for respondents to know this precisely and would add to respondent burden. Collecting and recording transitional sleep activities would require significant testing to determine if it is feasible to collect within the constraints of the ATUS. One advantage of the time diary is that researchers can easily define a “regular sleeping period” and exclude sleep durations that occur “outside of the usual sleeping period” in their analyses.
Adding new questions to the survey and collecting detail about working, health status, or sleep quality would expand the length and cost of the survey, as well as the burden on ATUS respondents. It is not feasible to expand the survey at this time. An avenue for adding questions to the survey exists through sponsorship of an ATUS Module. An ATUS Module is a temporary set of questions added to the end of the regular time-use survey that is designed to elicit information about a special topic.
Questions about shift work were included in the 2017-18 Leave Module. Questions about general health status were included in the 2006-08 and 2014-16 Eating and Health Module; the 2010, 2012, and 2013 Well-Being Module; and the 2011 Leave Module.
More information on ATUS Modules, including information about sponsoring a module, is available on the BLS webpage: ATUS Modules. BLS can also provide more information about module sponsorship upon request.
The other comment expressed the following concerns about the ATUS: the U.S. Department of Labor has no legal authority for the Survey; the survey is intrusive; the survey wastes taxpayer dollars; the survey forces respondents to waste their resources; and federal statistical agencies need to recognize that more information for government is not better for the American people.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics pursues and funds only the highest priority research and, thus, is strongly committed to not wasting taxpayers’ money. Policy makers, prominent scholars, and federal agencies assert that collecting time-use data is an essential government undertaking. Time-use data are considered important indicators of both quality of life and the contribution of non-market work to national economies. They measure, for example, time spent caring for children, volunteering, working, sleeping, and doing leisure activities. Using time-use data in conjunction with wage data allows analysts to better compare production between nations that have different mixes of market and non-market activities.
The ATUS is a voluntary survey conducted over the telephone. If a person decides to participate, he or she is asked to report about the activities they did on the day prior to the interview and can refuse to answer at any time. Title 29, United States code, Section 1, and Title 13, United States Code, Section 8, authorizes the U.S. Census Bureau to conduct this survey. Section 9 of Title 13, United States Code, requires BLS to keep all information about respondents strictly confidential.
The data collection methods and procedures for the ATUS were specifically designed to reduce costs to taxpayers. First, the ATUS draws its sample from households that have completed the Current Population Survey (CPS) instead of selecting new respondents. Thus, it is less costly because accurate addresses and phone numbers are already available for respondents. Second, the ATUS does not have to collect some demographic data and other information that was already collected for the CPS, so fewer questions are asked in the time-use survey. Third, because demographic data is known in advance, a representative sample can be efficiently selected.
The data from the time-use survey are available to the public through tables, charts, and public-use data files. The data have the potential to make the lives of all Americans better. A few examples follow:
Information on time spent in paid work, including where and when people are working, as well as information on how employed parents balance work and childcare responsibilities, can assist employers and policymakers in making decisions about flexible work places and hours, and childcare arrangements.
The Government Accountability Office recently used eldercare data from the ATUS to examine the size and characteristics of the parental and spousal caregiving population, the extent to which caregiving affects retirement security, and policy options that could improve caregivers’ retirement security.
Transportation researchers are using ATUS data to learn more about time spent commuting to work. This research can inform policy that will help to shorten commute times for the average American.
Many Americans engage in unpaid work activities that currently are not measured or valued in the United States. Some examples of unpaid work include caring for an elderly relative or spouse, caring for children or grandchildren, and volunteering. By providing the inputs necessary to quantify the amount of unpaid work that Americans are engaged in, and by contributing to the understanding of the different types of unpaid work that people do, the ATUS has aided in the development of satellite accounts measuring non-market work. Such information can provide a more accurate measure of the Nation’s Gross Domestic Product, as well as contribute to the development of policies that benefit the American taxpayer.
Survey Methods Research Community
ATUS sponsored a brainstorming session with survey methodologists in June 2001. ATUS research was presented for comment at the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) conferences in 2000, 2001, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2017, and at the International Field Directors conference in 2001. Research was also presented at the 2005 and 2008 FedCASIC; the 2005 International Field Directors conference; the 2005 American Statistical Association meetings; the 2005 ATUS Early Results Conference; the 2006 Panel of Income Dynamics Conference; the International Association for Time Use Research Conferences in 2006, 2010, 2015, 2016, and 2019; the 2009 American Time Use Research Conference; the 2011 International Perspectives on Time Use Conference; the 2013 World Statistics Congress of the International Statistical Institute; the 2013 conference of the Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology; and the 2019 CE Survey Methods Symposium. Additionally, 2003-17 ATUS survey methodology data files are publicly available and many survey methodologists—both affiliated and not affiliated with BLS—have analyzed and presented these data.
Federal Economic Statistical Advisory Council (FESAC)
Plans for ATUS were
discussed at the June 2001, December 2001, and June 2006 FESAC meetings. As needed, ATUS staff members solicit feedback and consultation from members of this group.
National Academy of Sciences (NAS)
Plans for ATUS were presented and reviewed at a NAS-sponsored conference on time use held in 1999 (NAS, 2000).
MacArthur Foundation
BLS and the MacArthur foundation jointly sponsored a conference in 1997 to discuss research applications of time-use data.
Westat
BLS consulted with Westat on methods for programming the time-use data collection instrument, the usability of the coding lexicon, and possible ways to augment the survey design to boost response. Westat reviewed the literature, analyzed time-use data, and designed an experiment to test the feasibility and impact of substituting diary days and extending the diary recall period. BLS also consulted with Westat to explore the feasibility of using a mixed-mode design that includes the collection of ATUS data via a Web instrument.
BLS advisory committees
BLS has consulted periodically with its advisory committees on the ATUS.
Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics (COPAFS)
BLS consulted with COPAFS on the ATUS at the June 2004 quarterly meeting.
Paying Respondents
A 2001 ATUS field test evaluated, among other operational design strategies, the effect of monetary incentives (debit cards) on response rates. Results of the evaluation showed that incentive payments significantly increased response, as well as encouraged faster response. For households for which the Census Bureau had a telephone number, a $20 incentive payment increased response significantly, from 69 percent to 77 percent, and a $40 incentive payment further increased response to 83 percent. (See Attachment B.) However, BLS determined that providing incentives to all respondents or only to refusals and noncontacts (after 4 weeks) would be cost prohibitive. Therefore, payments are not currently used as incentives to respondents in households for which the Census Bureau has a recent telephone number.
BLS offers incentives to respondents from “no-telephone-number” households. Persons in these households do not own a phone, have not provided a phone number to the Census Bureau as of CPS month-in-sample 8, or are among a small number of households that provided Census with nonworking phone numbers. Sampled persons from these households are sent a brochure about the ATUS, a $40 debit card incentive, and a letter that contains an appeal to call an ATUS interviewer and complete the survey. After participating in the survey, these respondents are provided with the PIN (Personal Identification Number) they need to cash their debit cards. (See Attachment D.) These cases are referred to as “regular incentive cases.” In 2014-16, 6.2 percent of the ATUS sample were regular incentive cases.
Two OMB-approved incentive expansions were implemented over the years. Starting in 2013, incentives are sent to individuals for whom the Census Bureau assigned call outcome codes of: 108 Number not in service; 109 Number changed, no new number given; 124 Number could not be completed as dialed; and 127 Temporarily not in service after the first week of collection. (See Attachment C.) The number of such cases is relatively small—in 2014-16, 2.1 percent of the ATUS sample were expanded incentive cases.
Individuals who are sent incentives and are more likely to be black, of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, to have less education, and to have lower household incomes than members of households that provide phone numbers. Because these households may differ from phone households on unobservable characteristics, including their time-use patterns, and because providing incentives to this small group is not cost prohibitive, BLS believes it is beneficial to expend additional effort and expense to secure their responses. Unweighted response rates for no-telephone-number households averaged about 32.4 percent in 2018. 3
Because of rising costs associated with the use of prepaid incentive cards, BLS is exploring cost-saving options that involve sending cash incentives rather than debit cards. BLS proposes to test both $5 and $10 cash incentives. Attachment T provides the full incentive study proposal along with research supporting the proposed incentive amounts. Testing the effectiveness of both amounts at the same time minimizes the need for lengthy testing cycles.
In addition to the potential increase in response rates, the proposed cash incentives are expected to save program costs. In fiscal year 2018, ATUS debit card incentives cost the program approximately $152,000, which included $70,000 for backing the debit cards, as well as $82,000 of staff time associated with managing the debit cards. The use of cash incentives is expected to save between $56,000 (if only $10 cash incentives are used) and $69,500 per year (if only $5 cash incentives are used) in costs associated with the ATUS program’s use of incentives. These funds could be spent on other aspects of the survey, such as expanding incentives to target groups with the lowest survey response rates.
While changing from the use of $40 prepaid debit cards to cash incentives has potential to save program funds, it is not clear whether and how this change might affect survey response. The proposed ATUS incentive study has two goals. The first goal will be to test the effectiveness of using $0, $5, and $10 cash incentives, where effectiveness will be measured in terms of survey response. The second goal will be to test whether a $5 or $10 cash incentive can boost survey response among certain underrepresented populations. In this study, the focus will be on sampled persons who are 15 to 24 years old. Data for the proposed incentive study will be collected for 12 consecutive months, for the entire fiscal year 2020, after which they will be examined to determine answers for the study’s two goals and to conduct additional analyses. ATUS proposes the use of $5 cash incentives for regular and expanded incentive cases after the study’s collection period has ended, and until an analysis of the results can provide insight on the best way to proceed. (See Attachment T for the Incentive Study Proposal).
In 2017, the survey’s overall unweighted response rate by sample month was 45.9 percent. During data processing, a small percentage of completed cases were eliminated for data quality reasons. As a result, the final unweighted response rate was 43.9 percent after processing. Because response rates have been lower than the 69-percent rate achieved (using no incentives) during the 2001 field test, the BLS and the Census Bureau continue to conduct a number of analyses of non-response in ATUS. In particular, BLS and Census have done or are doing the following to test and address response rate issues:
Conducted in-depth critiques and revisions of advance materials
Translated advance materials and refusal conversion materials to Spanish in order to better target Spanish speaking households
Developed a refusal conversion letter
Revised evening call operations at the Census interviewing center
Implemented policy of conducting more research into phone numbers (when invalid) and trained interviewers to conduct this research on a more-timely, interactive basis
Increased interviewer motivation by setting weekly goals and interviewer incentives
Conducted comprehensive analyses of non-response bias (see Part B, section 4)
Developed a Web site containing information for ATUS respondents (http://www.bls.gov/respondents/tus/home.htm)
Evaluated returned mail (such as advance letters) to see if cases were movers and to better investigate wrong or incomplete addresses (see Attachment M)
Developed an ATUS-specific “gaining cooperation” workshop to teach interviewers techniques to increase respondent cooperation, and incorporated this material into other periodic training courses
Implemented a periodic newsletter to inform interviewers and improve interviewer morale
Investigated incomplete cases to identify possible causes of noncontact or refusal (such as non-viable telephone numbers) and converted some cases to incentive cases
Investigated closed cases to identify cases that may have been closed prematurely without maximizing attempts to all working phone numbers resulting in cases that are reopened with a working phone number
Researched the feasibility of assigning cases that are likely refusals to refusal conversion specialists as soon as the case enters the field
Scrutinized and revised interviewer operations in several ways in order to increase the probability of completed interviews, such as redesigning the call blocks to add more call attempts during evening hours
Investigated the incidence and impact of cell phones on ATUS response rates and data quality (see Attachment E)
Contracted with Westat to provide guidance on whether and how to implement a substitution-of-day mechanism in the ATUS as well as to investigate how allowing substitution of the designated respondent within a household might affect the ATUS data (see Attachment F)
Implemented a "We've been trying to reach you letter" that is sent via FAX when ATUS calls go to FAX machines
Added FAQs to the collection instrument that ATUS interviewers can easily reference to respond to respondents' concerns
Contracted with Westat to explore the feasibility of a mixed-mode design that includes the collection of ATUS data via a Web instrument (see Attachment R)
Proposed a cash incentive study for no-telephone households and hard-to-reach populations (see Attachment T)
Assurance of Confidentiality
The Census Bureau employees hold all information that respondents provide in strict confidence in accordance with Title 13, United States Code, Section 9. (See Attachment G.) Each interviewer has taken an oath to this effect, and if convicted of disclosing any information given by the respondent may be fined up to $250,000 and/or imprisoned up to 5 years. In addition, Title 13 prohibits Census Bureau employees from disclosing information identifying any individual(s) in the ATUS to anyone other than sworn Census employees.
ATUS data are collected by the Census Bureau under the authority of Title 13, United States Code, Section 8. Section 9 of the law requires that all information about respondents be kept strictly confidential, and that the information be used only for statistical purposes. Respondents are informed of their right to confidentiality under Title 13 in the ATUS advance letter and brochure, mailed approximately 10 days before the interview date. (See Attachments H and I.) The ATUS advance letter also advises respondents that this is a voluntary survey.
All Census Bureau security safeguards regarding the protection of data files containing confidential information against unauthorized use, including data collected through Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI), apply to ATUS data collection.
The BLS Processing System design requires that ATUS data be securely transferred from the Census Bureau to the BLS via a shared server. This process mirrors the process used to transfer Current Population Survey data.
Justification for Sensitive Questions
During the course of a 24-hour day, many people engage in activities—such as alcohol or drug use or sexual activities—that they may consider too personal or sensitive to report. To examine respondent concerns about the sensitivity of the diary and other survey questions, respondents were asked in the field test if they thought any of the questions were too sensitive. Ninety-two percent of respondents did not think that questions about their time use were too personal or sensitive. During full production, Census Bureau ATUS interviewers advise respondents before beginning the interview that they need not report anything they think is too personal. This instruction does not appear to lead to nonresponse. In 2017, less than one percent of respondents reported that an activity was “none of your business.” A potentially sensitive question is included before the diary, as part of the household roster update, about whether the respondent has any children who do not live with him or her (so that analysts may examine noncustodial parents’ time with their children.)
Estimate of Respondent Burden
Starting with the sample introduced in December 2003, the ATUS sample was reduced by 35 percent. ATUS interviewers attempt to contact one designated person in each of approximately 2,060 sample households per month. Of the 2,060 households sampled each month, about 1,960 will actually be eligible for the ATUS at the time of contact. On average, 878 interviews are completed each month, or about 10,540 per year. Each respondent is interviewed in depth about only one day's activities and is not contacted for repeat interviews. A complete interview consists of:
a brief introduction
a household roster and employment status update
collection of time diary information
four summary questions series (on paid work, childcare, volunteering, and eldercare)
an update of additional information—on earnings, occupation and industry, layoff/job search, and school enrollment—collected in the CPS
The average length of time to complete the main ATUS interview, including the updates of demographic and labor force information as well as the time diary, is approximately 17.5 minutes.
For calendar years 2020-22, the estimated total number of burden hours is 9,222, or 3,074 annually. This accounts for an average length of 17.5 minutes for the core ATUS interview.
Based on this estimate of annual burden, the overall annualized dollar cost to the respondents for collection of ATUS data in 2020-22 is expected to be about $138,237, or $46,079 annually. This estimate assumes a wage rate for all respondents of $14.99 an hour, which equals the median hourly earnings for all wage and salary workers (paid hourly rates) in 2018.
Table 1 provides details on the estimated annual respondent burden for the ATUS collection for 2020-22.
Table 1. Estimated Annual Respondent Burden for 2020-22 (Hours and Dollars)
Form |
Total Respondents |
Frequency |
Average Time per Response |
Estimated Total Burden (Hours) |
Estimated Total Burden (Dollars) |
Full production
|
10,540 |
One Time |
17.5 minutes |
3,074 |
$46,079 |
**Costs are rounded to the nearest dollar and calculated using 2018 median hourly earnings ($14.99) from the Current Population Survey4
13. Estimate of Cost Burden
Capital start-up costs: $0
Total operation and maintenance and purchase of services: $0
Respondents to this survey are individuals and will not incur any capital start-up costs or costs related to total operation and maintenance and purchase of services agreements.
14. Cost to the Federal Government
The cost to the Federal Government for the ATUS base program in Fiscal Year 2016 is approximately $5 million.
Costs associated with the ATUS cover survey management, questionnaire design, instrument development, training, data collection, incentive payments, data editing, preparation of the files for data users, and support for users of the data files.
Changes in Respondent Burden
The estimated burden is 3,075 hours annually for 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Time Schedule for Information Collection and Publication
The following is the schedule for ATUS data collection:
Full production and data collection |
Conducted monthly through 2020, 2021, and 2022. The proposed cash incentive study (see Attachment T) will begin on October 1st, 2019. |
Release of the ATUS estimates |
Mid-2021 Mid-2022 Mid-2023 |
Cross tabulation and time-series analyses will be used to analyze the data.
The ATUS news releases will be published in electronic and paper formats. The electronic news release will be posted on the BLS Web site at www.bls.gov/tus. Paper copies will be mailed upon request. Additionally, public use data sets will be posted to the BLS Web site at www.bls.gov/tus after publication of the news release.
Request to Not Display Expiration Date
The Census Bureau does not wish to display the assigned expiration date of the information collection because the instrument is automated and the respondent, therefore, would never see the date. The advance letter sent to households by the Census Bureau contains the OMB survey control number for the ATUS.
Exceptions to the Certification
There are no exceptions to the “Certificate for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions.”
1 Fisher, Kimberly (2015) Metadata of Time Use Studies. Last updated 31 December 2014. Centre for Time Use Research, University of Oxford, United Kingdom. http://www.timeuse.org/information/studies/
2 Interviewers for the ATUS assign one of 24 location codes to each activity reported by respondents.
3 All response rates given are calculated using the American Association for Public Opinion Research’s (AAPOR’s) response rate 2 formula. For more information, see AAPOR’s Standard Definitions—Final Dispositions of Case Codes and Outcome Rates for Surveys, 2008.
4 The 2018 median hourly earnings are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Population Survey, Table A-7: Hourly earnings of employed wage and salary workers paid hourly rates by age, sex, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity and Non-Hispanic ethnicity, Annual Average 2018. See Attachment S.
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| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 0000-00-00 |