Understanding how Americans live has a lot to do with understanding what they do. Or more specifically, what they remember about doing and how it’s recorded. The following fact from the 2011 Time Use Study (ATUS) should cause some anxiety. “In 2011, each day, at the highest aggregated level, on average, an American spends: 3.57 hours working” How does the US Bureau of Labor know? What if you called 12,479 people randomly on random days and asked them what they did yesterday? That’s pretty much how it’s done. Every day, with a few exceptions (the call center took the day after Christmas off in 2011. The bureau also has no data about New Year’s Day 2007, Christmas Day 2008, and[…]
Month: July 2012
This is part one of a series on how Americans live. The US Labor Department released the 2011 Time Use Survey on June 22. You are welcome to replicate results using the data files* to mix and mash. In 2011, each day, at the highest aggregated level, on average, an American spends: 8.7 hours sleeping 3.57 hours working 2.75 hours watching TV 1.24 hours eating and drinking 43 minutes buying goods and services 42 minutes socializing and communicating 34 minutes preparing food 18 minutes exercising, playing sports, and recreating 10 minutes on telephone calls, mail, and email 7 minutes on leisure computer use (excluding games) Focus on the drop off. It’s not in a stacked bar chart so you can[…]