Supporting Statement A_1220-0185 ATUS Well-being_2020

ATUS Well-being Module

OMB Control Number 1220-0185

OMB Expiration Date: Reinstatement

SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

ATUS WELL-BEING MODULE

OMB CONTROL NO. 1220-0185

This ICR seeks OMB clearance for a reinstatement of the BLS Well-being Module to the American Time Use Survey.

A. Justification

1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary. Identify any legal or administrative requirements that necessitate the collection. Attach a copy of the appropriate section of each statute and regulation mandating or authorizing the collection of information.

The purpose of this request for review is for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to obtain clearance for a Well-being Module to the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), scheduled to be conducted March 2021 through December 2021. The proposed questions appear in Attachment A. As part of the ATUS, the module will survey individuals ages 15 and over from a nationally representative sample of approximately 2,060 sample households each month. If approved, the Well-being Module questions will be asked immediately after the ATUS and will follow up on some of the information ATUS respondents provide in their time diary. (The time diary is a section of the ATUS interview in which respondents report the activities they did over a 24-hour period that mainly encompasses "yesterday," or the day before the interview.) The Well-being Module is sponsored by the University of Maryland and the University of Minnesota and is contingent upon funding.

The core of the proposed Well-being Module will collect data about how people experience their time, specifically how happy, tired, sad, stressed, and in pain they felt yesterday. Respondents will be asked these questions about three randomly selected activities from the time diary; a few activities, such as sleeping and private activities, will never be selected. The module also will collect data on whether people were interacting with anyone while doing the selected activities, and how meaningful the activities were to them. Some general health questions, a question about overall life satisfaction, and a question about respondents' overall affective experience yesterday also will be asked.

The Well-being Module was previously collected as part of the ATUS in 2010 under the ATUS OMB Number 1220-0175 and again in 2012 and 2013 under OMB Control Number 1220-0185. The proposed 2021 version of the module is identical to the 2012 and 2013 module.

The ATUS is the Nation's first federally administered, continuous survey about time use in the United States. The survey is sponsored by BLS and conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. In the ATUS, a nationally representative sample of persons from households completing their final month of interviews for the Current Population Survey (CPS) is drawn for the ATUS. From each household, one person age 15 or older is selected for a one-time ATUS interview. The primary focus of the interview is on collecting the time diary, although additional questions are asked about the respondent's household composition and work during the prior week.

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 and other activities.

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.”

2. Indicate how, by whom, and for what purpose the information is to be used. Except for a new collection, indicate the actual use the agency has made of the information received from the current collection.

The data from the proposed Well-being Module will support the BLS mission of providing relevant information on economic and social issues. The data will provide a richer description of work; specifically, it will measure how workers feel (tired, stressed, in pain) during work episodes compared to non-work episodes, and how often workers interact on the job. It can also measure whether the amount of pain workers experience varies by occupation and disability status.

Data on life satisfaction will provide more comprehensive information about people’s well-being beyond the point-in-time information collected by the affect questions and could also be compared to the activity-level data. For example, it could provide information about whether people who are more satisfied with their life spend their time differently than those who are not as satisfied. It also could be used as an indicator of the average well-being of various subpopulations, such as older Americans or those in poor health. Such information is important for public policy.

The 2021 Well-being Module data files are intended to be used as a data set for researchers. Data from the 2010, 2012, and 2013 Well-Being Modules have proven to be a rich data source for researchers. Some examples of how the Well-Being data have been used include:

• Meier et al. used Well-being Module data to assess how parents feel in activities with children of different ages.¹

• He, Weingartner, and Sayer used Well-being Module data to examine the subjective well-being of eldercare providers, including their experienced positive and negative feelings, and compared them with those who are not eldercare providers.²

• Krueger used the Well-being Module data to study the opioid crisis in his paper, “Where Have all of the Workers Gone? An Inquiry into the Decline of the U.S. Labor Force Participation Rate.”³

• Kushlev, Dunn, and Lucas used Well-being Module data to explore the relationship between income and sadness levels.⁴

• Gimenez-Nadal and Molina used Well-being Module data to analyze differences in daily happiness between those individuals in the United States who perform voluntary activities during the day, and those who do not.⁵

The 2021 Well-being Module data will allow additional analysis of changes in well-being over time.

3. Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses, and the basis for the decision for adopting this means of collection. Also, describe any consideration of using information technology to reduce burden.

The U.S. Census Bureau, which collects and processes the data for BLS, conducts 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 and coding instrument are 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. This feature enables the interview to be flexible, making reporting easier for respondents. It also facilitates efficient and accurate coding of diary activities.

4. Describe efforts to identify duplication. Show specifically why any similar information already available cannot be used or modified for use for the purposes described in Item A.2 above.

A few independent surveys have collected data on Americans' well-being. A couple of these surveys have used a time diary in conjunction with episode-level questions about respondents' emotional experience; however, these surveys lack the scope and representativeness of the ATUS data. The Daily Reconstruction Method (DRM) collected data on time use, episode-level affect data, and information about respondents' overall life satisfaction in 2004. This survey was smaller in scale than the ATUS (the analytical focus was on 909 women who reported working in their time-use diary) and relied on a convenience sample rather than a nationally representative sample. Another independent survey, the Princeton Affect and Time Survey (PATS) was modeled on the ATUS and the DRM, and collected time-use and affect data from nearly 4,000 respondents in 2006. Other independent surveys have included questions to measure respondents' overall life satisfaction.

5. If the collection of information impacts small businesses or other small entities, describe any methods used to minimize burden.

The data are collected from individuals in households; their collection does not involve any small businesses or other small entities.

6. Describe the consequence to federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently, as well as any technical or legal obstacles to reducing burden.

Fielding the Well-being Module in 2021 will allow researchers to monitor changes in workers’ well-being over time since the last module was collected in 2013.

7. Explain any special circumstances that would cause an information collection to be conducted in a manner:

• requiring respondents to report information to the agency more often than quarterly;

• requiring respondents to prepare a written response to a collection of information in fewer than 30 days after receipt of it;

• requiring respondents to submit more than an original and two copies of any document;

• requiring respondents to retain records, other than health, medical, government contract, grant-in-aid, or tax records for more than three years;

• in connection with a statistical survey, that is not designed to produce valid and reliable results that can be generalized to the universe of study;

• requiring the use of statistical data classification that has not been reviewed and approved by OMB;

• that includes a pledge of confidentially that is not supported by authority established in statute or regulation, that is not supported by disclosure and data security policies that are consistent with the pledge, or which unnecessarily impedes sharing of data with other agencies for compatible confidential use; or

• requiring respondents to submit proprietary trade secret, or other confidential information unless the agency can demonstrate that it has instituted procedures to protect the information's confidentially to the extent permitted by law.

Affect data in the Well-being Module are collected for randomly-selected activities. These activities are coded using a classification system not used by Federal surveys other than the ATUS. 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: 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 U.S. Census Bureau coders and by coders at Westat prior to the start of full production in 2003. The development of the ATUS lexicon is described in "Developing the American Time Use Survey activity classification system," by Kristina Shelley, available at: http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2005/06/art1full.pdf.

No other special circumstances apply.

8. If applicable, provide a copy and identify the date and page number of publication in the Federal Register of the agency's notice, required by 5 CFR 1320.8(d), soliciting comments on the information collection prior to submission to OMB. Summarize public comments received in response to that notice and describe actions taken by the agency in response to these comments. Specifically address comments received on cost and hour burden.

Describe efforts to consult with persons outside the agency to obtain their views on the availability of data, frequency of collection, the clarity of instructions and recordkeeping, disclosure, or reporting format (if any), and on the data elements to be recorded, disclosed, or reported.

Consultation with representatives of those from whom information is to be obtained or those who must compile records should occur at least once every 3 years -- even if the collection-of-information activity is the same as in prior periods. There may be circumstances that may preclude consultation in a specific situation. These circumstances should be explained.

1. One comment was received as a result of a Federal Register notice published in 85 FR 26716 on July 6, 2020. The comment was in support of the 2021 Well-Being Module. The commenter noted that “the Well-Being Supplement will help develop a clearer picture of the experiences of workers.”

2. The following people and offices have been consulted concerning the development of the survey:

The core of the Well-being Module, first asked in 2010, was developed with input from the BLS, U.S. Census Bureau, National Institute on Aging (NIA), and researchers affiliated with Princeton University.

The 2012-13 iteration of the module was modified in consultation with a consortium of researchers who were affiliated with Princeton University, the University of California at San Diego, and Stony Brook University. The NIA, BLS, and U.S. Census Bureau also provided input.

The 2021 iteration of the module is identical to the 2012-13 version and is sponsored by the University of Maryland and the University of Minnesota.

U.S. Census Bureau

Beth Ashbaugh Capps

Assistant Survey Director - American Time Use Survey

Associate Director for Demographic Programs

U.S. Census Bureau

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Office of Survey Methods Research and the Office of Employment and Unemployment Statistics

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Department of Labor

National Institute on Aging (NIA)

National Institute on Aging

U.S. National Institutes of Health

University of Maryland

Sandra Hofferth

Professor Emerita, School of Public Health

Research Professor

Maryland Population Research Center

University of Minnesota

Sarah Flood

Director of US Survey Projects, IPUMS

Associate Director, Life Course Center

Minnesota Population Center

9. Explain any decision to provide any payments or gifts to respondents, other than remuneration of contractors or grantees.

Participants in the Well-being Module will not receive compensation beyond what they already receive for participating in the ATUS. In the ATUS, the majority of respondents do not receive compensation. Cash incentives in the amount of $5 or $10 are sent to some recipients in accordance with the ATUS Cash Incentive Study that began in December 2019. (See Attachment K.)

10. Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for the assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.

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 N.) 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.

Respondents are informed of their right to confidentiality under Title 13 in the ATUS advance letter, mailed approximately 10 days before the interview date. (See Attachment E.) 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 server to the BLS server. This process mirrors the process used to transfer CPS data.

11. Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private. This justification should include the reasons why the agency considers the questions necessary, the specific uses to be made of the information, the explanation to be given to persons from whom the information is requested, and any steps to be taken to obtain their consent.

Some of the proposed Well-being Module questions may be sensitive. After the respondents complete the main ATUS interview, the CATI instrument will randomly select three activities, and respondents will be asked, on a scale from 0 to 6, how happy, tired, stressed, sad, and in pain they felt during the activity, and also how meaningful the activity was. These affect questions will not be asked for certain personal activities (e.g., sleeping, grooming, or sex). For the remaining activities for which these questions will be asked, none of the 28 participants in the 2008 cognitive testing thought the questions were too personal (see Attachment L).

During the 2008 cognitive testing of the well-being questions, participants were also asked how they reacted to being asked how they felt during an activity. The majority (23 out of 28) either had no reaction or felt neutral about the questions (e.g., “the questions were fine”). The remaining 5 participants did not express discomfort with the questions. Their comments were mainly about the nature of the scale or how interesting or revealing the questions were to them. Finally, when asked their reaction to the explanation of why the government was collecting these data, only 1 out of the 28 felt that the government should not collect the information.

Two additional questions about overall life satisfaction and respondents' overall emotional experience yesterday were cognitively tested in 2011. Participants in the testing did not perceive the questions as sensitive; however, some participants thought others might think they were sensitive. When asked to provide additional information about why others might find the questions sensitive, participants in the testing provided general responses indicating some people are more private and do not like to share information about themselves (see Attachment M).

12. Provide estimates of the hour burden of the collection of information. The statement should:

• Indicate the number of respondents, frequency of response, annual hour burden, and an explanation of how the burden was estimated. Unless directed to do so, agencies should not conduct special surveys to obtain information on which to base hour burden estimates. Consultation with a sample (fewer than 10) of potential respondents is desirable. If the hour burden on respondents is expected to vary widely because of differences in activity, size, or complexity, show the range of estimated hour burden, and explain the reasons for the variance. General, estimates should not include burden hours for customary and usual business practices.

• If this request for approval covers more than one form, provide separate hour burden estimates for each form.

• Provide estimates of annualized cost to respondents for the hour burdens for collections of information, identifying and using appropriate wage rate categories. The cost of contracting out or paying outside parties for information collection activities should not be included here. Instead, this cost should be included in Item 14.

The estimated respondent burden for the proposed 2021 Well-being Module is 734 hours. This is based on an average respondent burden of approximately 5.6 minutes, which was the average duration of the 2013 Well-being Module. In 2019, the overall response rate for the ATUS was 40.1 percent, for a total of 9,435 respondents. The Well-Being Module will start in March 2021, and the number of potential respondents is estimated to be 7,860.

The overall annualized dollar cost to the respondents for collection of the 2021 Well-being Module is expected to be $11,267 per year. This estimate assumes a wage rate for all respondents of $15.35 an hour, the median hourly earnings for workers paid by the hour in 2019.

Estimated Annualized Respondent Cost and Hour Burden

Activity	No. of Respon-dents	No. of Responses per Respon-dent	Total Responses	Average Burden (Hours)	Total Burden (Hours)	Hourly Wage Rate	Total Burden Cost
2021 Well-Being Module	7,860	1	7,860	0.093	734	$15.35	$11,267

**Costs are rounded to the nearest dollar and calculated using 2019 median hourly earnings ($15.35) from the Current Population Survey (See Attachment J.)

13. Provide an estimate of the total annual cost burden to respondents or recordkeepers resulting from the collection of information. (Do not include the cost of any hour burden shown in Items 12 and 14).

1. Capital start-up costs: $0

2. Total operation and maintenance and purchase of services: $0

14. Provide estimates of the annualized cost to the Federal Government. Also, provide a description of the method used to estimate cost, which should include quantification of hours, operational expenses (such as equipment, overhead, printing, and support staff), any other expense that would not have been incurred without this collection of information. Agencies also may aggregate cost estimates from Items 12, 13, and 14 into a single table.

The total estimated cost of the 2021 Well-being Module is $300,000. This cost is to be borne by the University of Maryland using grant funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and the University of Minnesota using grant funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF). This cost largely represents the charge by the Census Bureau for conducting the module. Census activities for this supplement include programming the questionnaire, developing and conducting interviewer training, collecting data, processing survey microdata, and developing public use files. The cost also includes BLS activities of data editing, developing and conducting training, call monitoring, and the administration of the interagency agreement.

15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments.

The estimated respondent burden for the proposed 2021 Well-being Module is 734 hours. This is based on an average respondent burden of approximately 5.6 minutes and 7,860 expected respondents. The 2013 Well-being Module lasted an average of 5.6 minutes and was completed by 10,378 respondents. The 2021 Well-Being Module will have fewer respondents due to an overall decline in response rates as well as two fewer months of collection (with a March 2021 targeted start).

16. For collections of information whose results will be published, outline plans for tabulations, and publication. Address any complex analytical techniques that will be used. Provide the time schedule for the entire project, including beginning and ending dates of the collection of information, completion of report, publication dates, and other actions.

The proposed 2021 Well-being Module will be collected from March 2021 through December 2021. Processing of the module will be done as the data come in, and final data processing will be completed by mid-2022. Soon afterward, the 2021 Well-being Module public use files and documentation will be posted on the ATUS Web site at www.bls.gov/tus.

17. If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reasons that display would be inappropriate.

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.

18. Explain each exception to the certification statement.

There are no exceptions to the certification.

1 Ann Meier, Kelly Musick, Jocelyn Fischer, and Sarah Flood. Mothers’ and Father’s Well-Being in Parenting Across the Arch of Child Development. Journal of Marriage and Family. Vol 80, Issue 4. August 2018.

2 Wan He, Rose M. Weingartner, and Liana C. Sayer. Subjective Well-Being of Eldercare Providers: 2012-2013. Census Bureau. Current Population Reports. Report Number P23-215. February 2018.

3 Allan Krueger. Where Have all the Workers Gone? An Inquiry into the Decline of the U.S. Labor Force Participation Rate. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity. BPEA Conference Drafts, September 7–8, 2017

4 Kostadin Kushlev, Elizabeth W. Dunn, and Richard E. Lucas. Higher Income is Associated with Less Daily Sadness but not More Daily Happiness. Social Psychological and Personality Science. Volume 6, No. 5/July 2015.

5 J. Ingnacio Gimenez-Nadal and Jose Alberto Molina. Voluntary Activities and Daily Happiness in the United States. Economic Inquiry. May 2015.