Bureau of Labor Statistics Washington, D.C. 20212 

Technical information: (202) 691-6339 USDL 08-0859 

 http://www.bls.gov/tus/ 

 For release: 10:00 A.M. (EDT) 

Media contact: (202) 691-5902 Wednesday, June 25, 2008 

(NOTE: This release was reissued on Wednesday, November 12, 2008, to 

correct two labels in the earnings section of table 5. No other changes were made.) 

AMERICAN TIME USE SURVEY―2007 RESULTS 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today that in 2007: 

• Twenty percent of employed persons did some or all of their work at home on days that they 

worked, and 87 percent did some or all of their work at their workplace. 

• On an average day (which includes all 7 days of the week), 83 percent of women and 66 percent of men spent some time doing household activities, such as housework, cooking, lawn 

care, or financial and other household management. 

• Watching TV was the leisure activity that occupied the most time, accounting for about half 

of leisure time, on average, for both men and women. 

This annual release of American Time Use Survey (ATUS) data focuses on the average amount of 

time per day in 2007 that Americans worked, did household activities, cared for household children, 

participated in educational activities, and engaged in leisure and sports activities. It also includes 

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 2003-07. Except for childcare, activities done 

simultaneously with primary activities were not collected. For a further description of ATUS data and 

methodology, see the Technical Note. 

Working (by Employed Persons) in 2007

• Employed persons worked an average of 7.6 hours on the days that they worked. They 

worked longer on weekdays than on weekend days—7.9 versus 5.6 hours. (See table 4.) 

• On the days that they worked, employed men worked about three-quarters of an hour 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 

News United States 

Department 

of Labor 
2

or more per week), men worked slightly longer than women—8.2 versus 7.8 hours. (See 

table 4.) 

• Many more people worked on weekdays than on weekend days: 83 percent of employed 

persons worked on an average weekday compared with 36 percent on an average weekend 

day. (See table 4.) 

• On the days that they worked, 20 percent of employed persons did some or all of their work 

at home, and 87 percent did some or all of their work at their workplace. Hours worked at 

home averaged 2.8 hours per day, while hours worked at a workplace averaged 7.9 hours per 

day. Men and women were equally likely to do some or all of their work at home. (See 

table 6.) 

• Multiple jobholders were almost twice as likely to work on an average weekend day as were 

single jobholders—62 versus 33 percent. Multiple jobholders also were much more likely to 

work at home than were single jobholders—31 versus 18 percent. (See tables 4 and 6.) 

• Self-employed workers were more likely than wage and salary workers to have done some 

work at home—55 versus 16 percent. (See table 7.) 

• On days that they worked, 35 percent of employed people age 25 and over with a bachelor’s 

degree or higher did some work at home compared with only 6 percent of those with less 

than a high school diploma. (See table 6.) 

Household Activities in 2007

• On an average day, 83 percent of women and 66 percent of men spent some time doing 

household activities, such as housework, cooking, lawn care, or financial and other 

household management. (For a definition of average day, see the Technical Note.) (See 

table 1.) 

• On the days that they did household activities, women spent an average of 2.7 hours on such 

activities, while men spent 2.2 hours. (See table 1.) 

• On an average day, 20 percent of men did housework—such as cleaning or doing laundry—

compared with 52 percent of women. Thirty-seven percent of men did food preparation or 

cleanup compared with 64 percent of women. (See table 1.) 

Educational Activities in 2007

• About 9 percent of the population engaged in educational activities, such as attending class 

or doing homework, on an average weekday. Those who attended class on a weekday spent 

an average of 5.2 hours doing so, and those who did homework and research on a weekday 

spent 2.4 hours in such activities. (See table 2.) 

• Persons who did homework spent more time doing so on an average weekend day (3.0 hours) 

than on an average weekday (2.4 hours). (See table 2.) 
3

• On an average day, persons ages 15 to 19 spent 3.1 hours engaged in educational activities, 

more than three times as long as individuals in any other age group. (See table 3.) 

Leisure Activities in 2007 

• On an average day, nearly everyone age 15 and over (96 percent) engaged in some sort of 

leisure activity, such as watching TV, socializing, or exercising. Of those who engaged in 

leisure activities, men spent more time in these activities (5.7 hours) than did women (5.0 

hours). (See table 1.) 

• Watching TV was the leisure activity that occupied the most time, accounting for about half 

of leisure time, on average, for both men and women. Socializing, such as visiting with 

friends or attending or hosting social events, was the next most common leisure activity, 

accounting for about three-quarters of an hour per day for both sexes. (See table 1.) 

• Men were more likely than women to participate in sports, exercise, or recreation on any 

given day—21 versus 16 percent. On the days that they participated, men also spent more 

time in these activities than did women, 2.0 versus 1.4 hours. (See table 1.) 

• On an average day, adults age 75 and over spent 7.8 hours engaged in leisure activities—

more than any other age group; 25- to 34-year-olds and 35- to 44-year-olds spent 4.2 hours 

engaged in leisure and sports activities—less than other age groups. (See table 11.) 

• Time spent reading for personal interest and playing games or using a computer for leisure 

varied greatly by age. Individuals age 75 and over averaged 1.1 hours of reading per 

weekend day and 0.3 hour (20 minutes) playing games or using a computer for leisure. 

Conversely, individuals ages 15 to 19 read for an average of 0.3 hour (16 minutes) per 

weekend day while spending 0.8 hour (47 minutes) playing games or using a computer for 

leisure. (See table 11.) 

• Employed adults living in households with no children under 18 engaged in leisure activities 

for 4.4 hours per day, about an hour more than employed adults living with a child under 

age 6. (See table 8.) 

Care of Household Children (by Adults in Households with Children) for the period 2003-07

• Adults living in households with children under 6 spent an average of 2.0 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—0.8 hour (46 minutes) per day. Primary childcare 

is childcare that is done as a main activity, such as physical care of children and reading to or 

talking with children. (See table 9.) 

 

• On an average weekday, among adults living in households with children under 6, women 

spent 1.2 hours providing physical care (such as bathing or feeding a child) to household 

children; by contrast, men spent 0.4 hour (23 minutes). On an average weekend day, women 

provided about an hour of physical care to household children, while men provided about 

half an hour. (See table 9.) 
4

• Adults living in households with children under 6 spent an average of 5.6 hours per day 

providing secondary childcare—that is, they had at least one child under age 13 in their care 

while doing activities other than primary childcare. Secondary childcare was most 

commonly provided while doing leisure activities (2.2 hours) or household activities (1.4 

hours). (See table 10.) 

• Adults living in households with children under 6 spent more time providing primary 

childcare on an average weekday (2.1 hours) than on an average weekend day (1.7 hours). 

However, they spent less time providing secondary childcare on weekdays than on weekend 

days—4.8 versus 7.6 hours. (See tables 9 and 10.) 

 

Microdata Release

Today, BLS also released ten 2007 ATUS microdata files for users who wish to do their own 

tabulations and analyses. In accordance with BLS and Census Bureau policies that protect survey 

respondents' privacy, identifying information was removed from the microdata files and some responses have been edited. The 2007 microdata files are available on the BLS Web site at http:// 

www.bls.gov/tus/datafiles_2007.htm. 

For More Information

For additional information, please see the Technical Note or the ATUS Web site at http://www. 

bls.gov/tus/home.htm. Additional information about the ATUS also may be obtained by e-mailing 

ATUSinfo@bls.gov or by calling (202) 691-6339. Information in this release will be made available 

to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; TDD message referral 

phone: 1-800-877-8339. 
Technical Note

Survey methodology

Data collection for the American Time Use Survey 

(ATUS) began in January 2003. Sample cases for the

survey are selected monthly and interviews are conducted 

continuously throughout the year. In 2007, approximately 

12,250 individuals were interviewed. Estimates are

released annually.

ATUS sample households are chosen from the

households that completed their eighth (final) interview for 

the Current Population Survey (CPS), the nation’s monthly 

household labor force survey. ATUS sample households 

are selected to ensure that estimates will be nationally 

representative.

One individual age 15 or over is randomly chosen 

from each sampled household. This "designated person" is 

interviewed by telephone once about his or her activities on 

the day before the interview—the "diary day."

All ATUS interviews are conducted using Computer 

Assisted Telephone Interviewing. Procedures are in place 

to collect information from the small number of households 

that did not provide a telephone number during the CPS 

interview.

ATUS designated persons are preassigned a day of the 

week about which to report. Preassignment is designed to 

reduce variability in response rates across the week and to 

allow oversampling of weekend days so that accurate 

weekend day measures can be developed. Interviews occur 

on the day following the assigned day. For example, a 

person assigned to report about a Monday would be

contacted on the following Tuesday. Ten percent of

designated persons are assigned to report about each of the 

five weekdays. Twenty-five percent are assigned to report 

about each weekend day. Households are called for up to 8 

consecutive weeks (for example, 8 Tuesdays) in order to 

secure an interview.

About the questionnaire

In the time diary portion of the ATUS interview, 

survey respondents sequentially report activities they did 

between 4 a.m. on the day before the interview ("yesterday") until 4 a.m. on the day of the interview. For each 

activity, respondents are asked how long the activity lasted. 

For activities other than personal care activities (such as 

sleeping and grooming), interviewers also ask respondents 

where they were. And for activities other than personal 

care and work, they are asked who was in the room with 

them (if at home) or who accompanied them (if away from 

home). If respondents report doing more than one activity 

at a time, they are asked to identify which one was the

"main" (primary) activity. If none can be identified, then 

the interviewer records the first activity mentioned. After 

completing the time diary, interviewers ask respondents

additional questions to clearly identify work, volunteering,

and secondary childcare activities. Secondary childcare is 

defined as having a child under age 13 in one’s care while 

doing other activities.

In addition, the ATUS includes an update of the

household composition information from the last CPS

interview (2 to 5 months prior to the ATUS interview) and 

the employment status information of the respondent and 

his or her spouse or unmarried partner. For respondents

who became employed or changed jobs between the last 

CPS interview and the ATUS interview, information also is 

collected on industry, occupation, class of worker, and 

earnings. For those who are unemployed and/or on layoff, 

CPS questions on job search activities are asked. Those 

who report being on layoff are asked if or when they expect 

to be recalled to work. Finally, a question about current 

school enrollment status is asked of all respondents ages 15 

to 49.

After completing the interview, primary activity descriptions are assigned a single 6-digit code using the

ATUS Coding Lexicon. The 3-tier coding system consists 

of 17 major activity categories, each with multiple secondand third-tier subcategories. These coding lexicon categories are then combined into composite categories for 

publication, such as in this news release. Descriptions of 

categories shown in this release can be found in the Major 

activity category definitions section of this Technical Note. 

The 2007 ATUS Coding Lexicon can be accessed at http://

www.bls.gov/tus/lexicons.htm.

Concepts and definitions

Average day. The average day measure reflects an 

average distribution across all persons in the reference

population and all days of the week. Average day measures 

for the entire population provide a mechanism for seeing 

the overall distribution of time allocation for society as a 

whole. The ATUS collects data about daily activities from 

all segments of the population age 15 and over, including 

persons who are employed and not employed. Activity 

profiles differ based upon age, employment status, gender, 

and other characteristics. On an average day in 2007, persons in the U.S. age 15 and over worked for 3.8 hours, slept 

about 8.6 hours, spent 5.1 hours doing leisure and sports 

activities, and spent 1.8 hours doing household activities. 

The remaining 4.7 hours were spent doing a variety of other 

activities, including eating and drinking, attending school, 

and shopping. (See table 1.) By comparison, an average 

weekday for persons employed full time on days that they 

worked included 9.1 hours working, 7.6 hours sleeping, 3.0 

hours doing leisure and sports activities, and 0.9 hour doing 

household activities. The remaining 3.4 hours were spent 

in other activities, such as those described above. (These 

estimates include related travel time.)

Many activities typically are not done on a daily basis, 

and some activities only are done by a subset of the

population. For example, only 46 percent of all persons age 
15 years and over worked on an average day in 2007 

because some were not employed and those who were 

employed did not work every day. (See table 1.) 

Average hours per day. The average number of hours 

spent in a 24-hour day (between 4 a.m. on the diary day and 

4 a.m. on the interview day) doing a specified activity.

• Average hours per day, population. The

average number of hours per day is computed 

using all responses from a given population,

including those of respondents who did not do a 

particular activity on their diary day. These estimates reflect how many population members 

engaged in an activity and the amount of time 

they spent doing it.

• Average hours per day, persons who did the

activity. The average number of hours per day 

is computed using only responses from those 

who engaged in a particular activity on their 

diary day. 

Diary day. The diary day is the day about which the 

respondent reports. For example, the diary day of a 

respondent interviewed on Tuesday is Monday.

Earnings

• Usual weekly earnings. Data represent the

earnings of full-time wage and salary workers 

before taxes and other deductions and include 

any overtime pay, commissions, or tips usually 

received (at the main job in the case of multiple 

jobholders). Usual weekly earnings are only 

updated in ATUS for about a third of employed 

respondents—if the respondent changed jobs or 

employment status or if the CPS weekly

earnings value was imputed. This means that 

the earnings information could be out of date 

because the CPS interview was done 2 to 5 

months prior to the ATUS interview. 

Respondents are asked to identify the easiest 

way for them to report earnings (hourly, weekly, 

biweekly, twice monthly, annually, or other) and 

how much they usually earn in the reported time 

period. Earnings reported on a basis other than 

weekly are converted to a weekly equivalent. 

The term "usual" is as perceived by the

respondent. If the respondent asks for a

definition of usual, interviewers are instructed to 

define the term as more than half the weeks 

worked during the past 4 or 5 months.

• Weekly earnings ranges. The ranges used

represent approximately 25 percent of full-time 

wage and salary workers. For example, 25 percent of full-time wage and salary workers had 

weekly earnings of $480 or less. These dollar 

values vary from year to year.

Employment status

• Employed. All persons who, at any time during 

the 7 days prior to the interview: 

1) Did any work at all as paid employees;

worked in their own business, profession, or on 

their own farm; or usually worked 15 hours or 

more as unpaid workers in a family-operated 

enterprise; or

2) Were not working but had jobs or businesses 

from which they were temporarily absent due to 

illness, bad weather, vacation, childcare problems, labor-management disputes, maternity or 

paternity leave, job training, or other family or 

personal reasons, whether or not they were paid 

for the time off or were seeking other jobs.

• Employed full time. Full-time workers are those

who usually worked 35 hours or more per week 

at all jobs combined.

• Employed part time. Part-time workers are

those who usually worked fewer than 35 hours 

per week at all jobs combined.

• Not employed. Persons are not employed if they 

do not meet the conditions for employment. The 

not employed include those classified as unemployed as well as those classified as not in the 

labor force (using CPS definitions).

The numbers of employed and not employed persons 

in this report do not correspond to published totals from the 

CPS for several reasons. First, the reference population for 

the ATUS is age 15 years and over, whereas it is age 16 

years and over for the CPS. Second, ATUS data are

collected continuously, the employment reference period 

being the 7 days prior to the interview. By contrast, CPS 

data are usually collected during the week including the 

19th of the month and refer to employment during the week 

containing the 12th of the month. Finally, the CPS accepts 

answers from household members about other household 

members whereas such proxy responses are not allowed in 

the ATUS. One consequence of the difference in proxy 

reporting is that a significantly higher proportion of

teenagers report employment in the ATUS than in the CPS. 

While the information on employment from the ATUS is 

useful for assessing work in the context of other daily 

activities, the employment data are not intended for analysis 

of current employment trends. Compared with the CPS and 

other estimates of employment, the ATUS estimates are 

based on a much smaller sample and are only available with 

a substantial lag since ATUS data and estimates are

published during the year following data collection.

Household children. Household children are children 

under age 18 residing in the household of the ATUS re -

spondent. The children may be related to the respondent 
(such as his or her own children, grandchildren, nieces or 

nephews, or brothers or sisters) or not related (such as 

foster children or children of roommates). For secondary 

childcare calculations, respondents are asked separately 

about care for own and nonown household children under 

age 13.

Primary activity. A primary activity is the main 

activity a respondent was doing at a specified time. With 

the exception of secondary childcare in table 10, the

estimates presented in this release reflect time spent in 

primary activities only.

Secondary activities. A secondary (or simultaneous)

activity is an activity done at the same time as a primary 

activity. With the exception of the care of children under 

age 13, information on secondary activities is not

systematically collected in the ATUS.

Secondary childcare. Secondary childcare is care for 

children under age 13 that is done while doing an activity

other than primary childcare, such as cooking dinner. 

Secondary childcare estimates are derived by summing the 

durations of activities during which respondents had a

household child or their own nonhousehold child under age 

13 in their care while doing activities other than primary 

childcare. It is restricted to times the respondent was

awake. Secondary childcare time for household children is 

further restricted to the time between when the first

household child under age 13 woke up and the last

household child under age 13 went to bed. If respondents 

report providing both primary and secondary care at the 

same time, the time is attributed to primary care only.

Weekday, weekend, and holiday estimates. Estimates 

for weekdays are an average of reports about Monday

through Friday. Estimates for weekend days and holidays 

are an average of reports about Saturdays, Sundays, and the

following holidays: New Year’s Day, Easter, Memorial 

Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and 

Christmas Day. In 2007, the telephone call center was 

closed the day after New Year’s Day, so data were not 

collected about this holiday.

Major activity category definitions

The following definitions describe the activity

categories shown in this report. All major time -use categories in the tables include related travel time and waiting 

time. For example, time spent "driving to the stadium" and 

time spent "waiting to get into the stadium to play ball" are 

included in Leisure and sports.

Personal care activities. Personal care activities include sleeping, grooming (such as bathing or dressing), 

health-related self-care, and personal or private activities. 

Receiving unpaid personal care from others (for example, 

"my sister put polish on my nails") also is captured in this 

category. Respondents are not asked who they were with or 

where they were for personal care activities, as such

information can be sensitive.

Eating and drinking. All time spent eating or drinking 

(except eating and drinking done as part of a work or 

volunteer activity), whether alone, with others, at home, at a 

place of purchase, or somewhere else, is classified here. 

Time spent purchasing or talking related to purchasing 

meals, snacks, or beverages is not counted as part of this

category; time spent doing these activities is counted in 

Purchasing goods and services.

Household activities. Household activities are those 

done by persons to maintain their households. These

include housework; cooking; lawn and garden care; pet 

care; vehicle maintenance and repair; home ma intenance, 

repair, decoration, and renovation; and household

management and organizational activities (such as filling 

out paperwork, balancing a checkbook, or planning a

party). Food preparation, whether or not reported as done 

specifically for another household member, is always

classified as a household activity, unless it was done as a 

volunteer, work, or income-generating activity. For

example, "making breakfast for my son" is coded as a

household activity, not as childcare. 

Purchasing goods and services. This category includes purchases of consumer goods, professional and

personal care services, household services, and government 

services. Consumer purchases include most purchases and 

rentals of consumer goods, regardless of the mode or place 

of purchase or rental (in person, via telephone, over the 

Internet, at home, or in a store). Gasoline, grocery, other 

food purchases, and all other shopping are further broken 

out in subcategories.

Time spent obtaining, receiving, and purchasing professional and personal care services provided by someone 

else also is classified in this category. Professional services 

include childcare, financial services and banking, legal 

services, medical and adult care services, real estate

services, and veterinary services. Personal care services 

include day spas, hair salons and barbershops, nail salons, 

and tanning salons. Activities classified here include time 

spent paying, meeting with, or talking to service providers, 

as well as time spent receiving the service or waiting to 

receive the service.

Time spent arranging for and purchasing household 

services provided by someone else also is classified here. 

Household services include housecleaning; cooking; lawn 

care and landscaping; pet care; tailoring, laundering, and 

dry cleaning; vehicle maintenance and repairs; and home 

repairs, maintenance, and construction.

This category also captures the time spent obtaining 

government services—such as applying for food stamp s—

and purchasing government-required licenses or paying 

fines or fees.

Caring for and helping household members. Time 

spent doing activities to care for or help any child (under 

age 18) or adult in the household, regardless of relationship 

to the respondent or the physical or mental health status of 

the person being helped, is classified here. Caring for and 

helping activities for household children and adults are 

coded separately in subcategories. 

Primary childcare activities include time spent

providing physical care; playing with children; reading to 

children; assistance with homework; attending children’s 

events; taking care of children’s health needs; and dropping 

off, picking up, and waiting for children. Passive childcare 
done as a primary activity (such as "keeping an eye on my 

son while he swam in the pool") also is included. A child’s 

presence during the activity is not enough in itself to 

classify the activity as childcare. For example, "watching 

television with my child" is coded as a leisure activity, not 

as childcare.

Secondary childcare occurs when persons have a child

under age 13 "in their care" while doing activities other 

than primary childcare. For a complete definition, see the 

Concepts and definitions section of this Technical Note.

Caring for and helping household members also

includes a range of activities done to benefit adult members 

of households, such as providing physical and medical care 

or obtaining medical services. Doing something as a favor 

for or helping another household adult does not automatically result in classification as a helping activity. For 

example, a report of "helping my spouse cook dinner" is 

considered a household activity (food preparation), not a 

helping activity, because cooking dinner benefits the

household as a whole. By contrast, doing paperwork for 

another person usually benefits the individual, so a report of 

"filling out an insurance application for my spouse" is

considered a helping activity.

Caring for and helping nonhousehold members. 

Caring for and helping nonhousehold members includes 

activities persons do to care for or help those—either 

children (under age 18) or adults—who do not live with 

them. When done for or through an organization, time

spent helping nonhousehold members is classified as volunteering, rather than as helping nonhousehold members. 

Care of nonhousehold children, even when done as a favor 

or helping activity for another adult, is always classified as 

caring for and helping nonhousehold children, not as

helping another adult.

Working and work -related activities. This category 

includes time spent working, doing activities as part of 

one’s job, engaging in income-generating activities (not as 

part of one’s job), and job search activities. "Working" 

includes hours spent doing the specific tasks required of 

one’s main or other job, regardless of location or time of 

day. "Work-related activities" include activities that are not 

obviously work but are done as part of one’s job, such as 

having a business lunch or playing golf with clients. "Other 

income -generating activities" are those done "on the side" 

or under informal arrangement and are not part of a regular 

job. Such activities might include selling homemade crafts, 

babysitting, maintaining a rental property, or having a yard 

sale. These activities are those that persons "are paid for or 

will be paid for."

Travel time related to working and work-related activities includes time spent traveling to and from work, as 

well as time spent traveling for work-related, income-generating, and job search activities.

Educational activities. Educational activities include 

taking classes (including Internet and other distancelearning courses) for a degree as well as for personal

interest; doing research and homework; and taking care of 

administrative tasks related to education, such as registering 

for classes or obtaining a school ID. For high school

students, before- and after-school extracurricular activities 

(except sports) also are classified as educational activities. 

Educational activities do not include time spent for classes 

or training received as part of a job. Time spent helping 

others with their education-related activities is classified in 

the Caring for and helping categories.

Organizational, civic, and religious activities. This 

category captures time spent volunteering for or through an 

organization, performing civic obligations, and participating in religious and spiritual activities. Civic obligations 

include government-required duties, such as serving jury

duty or appearing in court, and activities that assist or influence government processes, such as voting or attending 

town hall meetings. Religious activities include those normally associated with membership in or identification with 

specific religions or denominations, such as attending religious services; participating in choirs, youth groups,

orchestras, or unpaid teaching (unless identified as

volunteer activities); and engaging in personal religious 

practices, such as praying.

Leisure and sports. The leisure and sports category 

includes sports, exercise, and recreation; socializing and 

communicating; and other leisure activities. Sports, exercise, and recreation activities include participating in—as 

well as attending or watching—sports, exercise and recreational activities. Recreational activities are leisure activities 

that are active in nature, such as yard games like croquet or 

horseshoes. Socializing and communicating includes faceto-face social communication and hosting or attending social functions. Leisure activities include watching television; reading; relaxing or thinking; playing computer,

board, or card games; using a computer or the Internet for 

personal interest; playing or listening to music; and other 

activities, such as attending arts, cultural, and entertainment 

events.

Telephone calls, mail, and e-mail. This category

captures telephone communication and handling household 

or personal mail or e-mail. Telephone and Internet purchases are classified in Purchasing goods and services.

Telephone calls, mail, or e-mail identified as related to 

work or volunteering are classified as work or volunteering.

Other activities, not elsewhere classified. This

residual category includes security procedures related to 

traveling, traveling not associated with a specific activity 

category, ambiguous activities that could not be coded, and 

missing activities. Missing activities result when respondents did not remember what they did for a period of time, or 

when they considered an activity too private or personal to 

report.

Processing and estimation

After ATUS data are collected, they go through an 

editing and imputation procedure. Responses to CPS

questions that are re-asked in the ATUS go through the 

regular CPS edit and imputation procedures. Some item 

nonresponses for questions unique to the ATUS (such as 

where an activity took place or how much time was spent 

doing secondary childcare) also are imputed. Missing 
activities and missing values for who was present during an 

activity are never imputed.

ATUS records are weighted to reduce bias in the 

estimates due to differences in sampling and response rates 

across subpopulations and days of the week. Specifically,

the data are weighted to ensure the following:

• Weekdays represent about 5/7 of the weighted 

data, and weekend days each represent about 1/7 

of the weighted data for the population as a

whole. The actual proportions depend on the 

number of weekdays and weekend days in a

given quarter.

• The sum of the weights is equal to the number of 

person-days in the quarter for the population as a 

whole and for selected subpopulations.

Reliability of the estimates

Statistics based on the ATUS are subject to both

sampling and nonsampling error. When a sample, rather 

than the entire population, is surveyed, there is a chance 

that the sample estimates may differ from the "true" 

population values they represent. The exact difference, or 

sampling error, varies depending on the particular sample 

selected, and this variability is measured by the standard 

error of the estimate. There is about a 90-percent chance, 

or level of confidence, that an estimate based on a sample 

will differ by no more than 1.6 standard errors from the 

"true" population value because of sampling error. BLS 

analyses are generally conducted at the 90-percent level of 

confidence.

The ATUS data also are affected by nonsampling

error. Nonsampling error can occur for many reasons,

including the failure to sample a segment of the population, 

inability to obtain information for all respondents in the

sample, inability or unwillingness of respondents to provide 

correct information, and errors made in the collection or 

processing of the data. Errors also could occur if nonresponse is correlated with time use.
Table 1. Time spent in primary activities 1 and percent of the civilian population engaging in each activity, averages p

by sex, 2007 annual averages

Activity

Average hours per day, civilian

population

Average percent engaged in the

activity per day

Average hours per day 

who engaged in the 

Total Men Women Total Men Women Total Men 

Total, all activities 2 ......................................................... 24.00 24.00 24.00 – – – – – 

 Personal care activities ................................................. 9.33 9.14 9.51 100.0 100.0 100.0 9.33 9.14  Sleeping ..................................................................... 8.57 8.52 8.63 99.9 99.9 99.9 8.58 8.53  Eating and drinking ....................................................... 1.24 1.27 1.20 95.4 95.7 95.1 1.30 1.33  Household activities ...................................................... 1.84 1.43 2.22 74.4 65.6 82.7 2.47 2.18  Housework ................................................................. .64 .29 .97 36.2 19.7 51.7 1.76 1.46  Food preparation and cleanup ................................... .52 .28 .74 50.8 37.3 63.5 1.02 .75  Lawn and garden care ............................................... .21 .30 .12 10.3 12.9 7.9 2.00 2.32  Household management ........................................... .14 .12 .16 18.2 15.2 21.0 .78 .82  Purchasing goods and services .................................... .78 .63 .92 44.3 40.1 48.2 1.77 1.58  Consumer goods purchases ...................................... .39 .31 .48 40.6 37.2 43.8 .97 .83  Professional and personal care services ................... .09 .06 .12 8.4 6.3 10.4 1.04 .88  Caring for and helping household members ................. .53 .33 .72 25.5 20.3 30.4 2.08 1.62  Caring for and helping household children ................ .42 .25 .58 21.8 16.4 26.9 1.92 1.49  Caring for and helping nonhousehold members ........... .20 .17 .23 12.8 10.7 14.8 1.56 1.56  Caring for and helping nonhousehold adults ............. .07 .07 .07 8.0 7.2 8.8 .87 .95  Working and work-related activities .............................. 3.81 4.52 3.14 47.8 54.2 41.7 7.98 8.34  Working ..................................................................... 3.47 4.09 2.89 45.9 51.9 40.2 7.56 7.87  Educational activities .................................................... .43 .41 .44 7.9 7.6 8.2 5.42 5.39  Attending class .......................................................... .26 .26 .25 5.0 4.9 5.0 5.15 5.20  Homework and research ........................................... .14 .12 .15 5.4 4.6 6.0 2.53 2.52  Organizational, civic, and religious activities ................ .35 .28 .41 14.5 11.8 17.1 2.42 2.42  Religious and spiritual activities ................................. .15 .11 .18 8.9 6.9 10.8 1.66 1.64  Volunteering (organizational and civic activities) ....... .16 .13 .18 7.1 6.0 8.2 2.22 2.21  Leisure and sports ........................................................ 5.11 5.48 4.76 95.8 96.0 95.6 5.33 5.71  Socializing and communicating ................................. .73 .67 .78 38.4 35.3 41.4 1.89 1.89  Watching television .................................................... 2.62 2.88 2.38 79.5 81.4 77.7 3.30 3.54  Participating in sports, exercise, and recreation ........ .32 .42 .22 18.5 21.4 15.7 1.71 1.96  Telephone calls, mail, and e-mail ................................. .19 .13 .24 24.4 19.1 29.3 .76 .66  Other activities, not elsewhere classified ...................... .20 .20 .19 14.1 13.0 15.1 1.40 1.57 

 1 A primary activity refers to an individual’s main activity. Other activities done simultaneously are not included. 2 All major activity categories include related travel time. See Technical Note for activity category definitions.

– Not applicable.NOTE: Data refer to persons 15 years and over.
Table 2. Time spent in primary activities 1 and percent of the civilian population engaging in each

activity, averages per day on weekdays and weekends, 2007 annual averages

Activity

Average hours per day,

civilian population

Average percent

engaged in the activity

per day

Average hours per day

for persons who

engaged in the activity

Weekdays

Weekends

and

holidays 2

Weekdays

Weekends

and

holidays 2

Weekdays

Weekends

and

holidays 2

Total, all activities 3 ......................................................... 24.00 24.00 – – – –

 Personal care activities ................................................. 9.06 9.97 100.0 100.0 9.06 9.97 Sleeping ..................................................................... 8.29 9.24 99.9 100.0 8.29 9.25 Eating and drinking ....................................................... 1.19 1.33 95.6 94.9 1.25 1.40 Household activities ...................................................... 1.69 2.19 74.1 75.0 2.28 2.92 Housework ................................................................. .59 .76 35.1 38.8 1.67 1.96 Food preparation and cleanup ................................... .49 .57 52.0 47.9 .95 1.20 Lawn and garden care ............................................... .18 .28 9.5 12.4 1.85 2.26 Household management ........................................... .13 .16 18.0 18.6 .73 .88 Purchasing goods and services .................................... .74 .88 43.7 45.7 1.70 1.92 Consumer goods purchases ...................................... .34 .52 39.1 44.1 .87 1.18 Professional and personal care services ................... .11 .04 10.1 4.4 1.05 .97 Caring for and helping household members ................. .57 .45 27.0 22.0 2.09 2.06 Caring for and helping household children ................ .43 .39 23.0 19.0 1.88 2.05 Caring for and helping nonhousehold members ........... .18 .24 12.2 14.1 1.50 1.69 Caring for and helping nonhousehold adults ............. .06 .10 7.3 9.7 .78 1.02 Working and work-related activities .............................. 4.81 1.47 57.4 25.1 8.38 5.84 Working ..................................................................... 4.39 1.31 55.5 23.3 7.91 5.60 Educational activities .................................................... .53 .18 8.8 5.6 6.01 3.23 Attending class .......................................................... .36 .02 6.9 .5 5.18 4 ( )

 Homework and research ........................................... .13 .15 5.5 5.1 2.35 3.01 Organizational, civic, and religious activities ................ .26 .55 12.1 20.1 2.18 2.76 Religious and spiritual activities ................................. .07 .32 5.9 15.9 1.25 2.01 Volunteering (organizational and civic activities) ....... .16 .16 7.2 6.9 2.16 2.38 Leisure and sports ........................................................ 4.57 6.37 95.4 96.8 4.79 6.58 Socializing and communicating ................................. .55 1.13 35.9 44.3 1.54 2.55 Watching television .................................................... 2.43 3.07 79.3 79.7 3.07 3.85 Participating in sports, exercise, and recreation ........ .28 .41 18.4 18.7 1.50 2.20 Telephone calls, mail, and e-mail ................................. .19 .16 26.1 20.3 .74 .81 Other activities, not elsewhere classified ...................... .19 .20 14.3 13.7 1.36 1.49

 1 A primary activity refers to an individual’s main activity. Other activities done simultaneously are not included. 2 Holidays are New Year’s Day, Easter, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.

Data were not collected about New Year’s Day in 2007.

 3 All major activity categories include related travel time. See Technical Note for activity category definitions.

4 Data not shown where base is less than 1.2 million.

– Not applicable.NOTE: Data refer to persons 15 years and over.
Table 3. Time spent in primary activities 1 for the civilian population by age, sex, race, Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, m

educational attainment, 2007 annual averages

Characteristic

Average hours per day spent in primary activities 2

Personal

care

activities

Eating and

drinking

Household

activities

Purchasing

goods and

services

Caring for

and

helping

household

members

Caring for

and

helping

nonhousehold

members

Working

and workrelated

activities

Educational activities

Organizational,

civic, and

religious

activities

L

an

Total, 15 years and over ....................... 9.33 1.24 1.84 0.78 0.53 0.20 3.81 0.43 0.35  15 to 19 years ..................................... 10.27 .98 .68 .53 .11 .19 1.65 3.05 .30  20 to 24 years ..................................... 9.54 1.18 1.09 .76 .39 .19 4.50 .88 .23  25 to 34 years ..................................... 9.28 1.19 1.58 .74 1.12 .14 4.98 .19 .25  35 to 44 years ..................................... 9.06 1.17 1.89 .75 1.07 .16 4.95 .12 .29  45 to 54 years ..................................... 9.03 1.21 2.07 .81 .37 .18 4.97 .08 .35  55 to 64 years ..................................... 9.04 1.30 2.38 .96 .16 .32 3.63 .03 .45  65 to 74 years ..................................... 9.47 1.50 2.42 .89 .13 .28 1.34 .05 .52  75 years and over ............................... 9.85 1.53 2.39 .78 .08 .19 .26 .00 .58  Men, 15 years and over ....................... 9.14 1.27 1.43 .63 .33 .17 4.52 .41 .28  15 to 19 years ..................................... 10.00 .97 .55 .42 .06 .18 1.79 3.09 .24  20 to 24 years ..................................... 9.34 1.15 1.01 .66 .16 .22 4.79 .65 .16  25 to 34 years ..................................... 9.04 1.22 1.25 .58 .57 .13 6.00 .12 .22  35 to 44 years ..................................... 8.85 1.20 1.33 .61 .67 .18 5.93 .08 .26  45 to 54 years ..................................... 8.83 1.29 1.60 .67 .31 .17 5.66 .08 .29  55 to 64 years ..................................... 8.99 1.34 2.01 .68 .14 .20 4.13 .04 .39  65 to 74 years ..................................... 9.16 1.57 1.94 .80 .08 .15 1.93 .03 .39  75 years and over ............................... 9.89 1.68 1.83 .73 .08 .13 .47 .00 .42  Women, 15 years and over ................. 9.51 1.20 2.22 .92 .72 .23 3.14 .44 .41  15 to 19 years ..................................... 10.55 1.00 .81 .64 .15 .20 1.50 3.01 .36  20 to 24 years ..................................... 9.75 1.20 1.19 .86 .62 .16 4.21 1.10 .29  25 to 34 years ..................................... 9.52 1.16 1.92 .90 1.68 .16 3.95 .27 .27  35 to 44 years ..................................... 9.26 1.14 2.43 .89 1.46 .14 4.01 .15 .33  45 to 54 years ..................................... 9.23 1.13 2.52 .95 .43 .19 4.30 .08 .41  55 to 64 years ..................................... 9.09 1.26 2.74 1.21 .18 .44 3.17 .02 .50  65 to 74 years ..................................... 9.73 1.45 2.82 .97 .17 .38 .84 .06 .63  75 years and over ............................... 9.83 1.43 2.76 .81 .08 .23 .13 .00 .68  White, 15 years and over ..................... 9.25 1.28 1.93 .79 .53 .20 3.84 .40 .33  Men ..................................................... 9.07 1.33 1.50 .65 .33 .17 4.61 .38 .26  Women ............................................... 9.42 1.24 2.34 .92 .71 .23 3.10 .42 .40 See footnotes at end of table.
Table 3. Time spent in primary activities 1 for the civilian population by age, sex, race, Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, m

educational attainment, 2007 annual averages — Continued

Characteristic

Average hours per day spent in primary activities 2

Personal

care

activities

Eating and

drinking

Household

activities

Purchasing

goods and

services

Caring for

and

helping

household

members

Caring for

and

helping

nonhousehold

members

Working

and workrelated

activities

Educational activities

Organizational,

civic, and

religious

activities

L

an

 Black or African American, 15 years

and over .............................................. 9.72 0.87 1.33 0.78 0.48 0.22 3.53 0.42 0.47 

 Men ..................................................... 9.34 .84 1.07 .59 .25 .22 3.84 .37 .45  Women ............................................... 10.04 .90 1.54 .94 .67 .22 3.27 .46 .48  Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 15 years

and over .............................................. 9.65 1.13 1.88 .70 .58 .11 4.17 .53 .31 

 Men ..................................................... 9.46 1.13 1.21 .57 .30 .10 5.18 .58 .20  Women ............................................... 9.85 1.14 2.59 .84 .89 .12 3.10 .47 .43 Marital status and sex:

Married, spouse present ..................... 9.08 1.33 2.16 .84 .77 .18 4.04 .10 .39 

Men ................................................... 8.88 1.38 1.59 .67 .51 .15 5.02 .08 .35 Women ............................................. 9.27 1.28 2.71 1.01 1.02 .22 3.09 .12 .44 

Other marital statuses ........................ 9.63 1.13 1.47 .72 .25 .22 3.53 .82 .30 

Men ................................................... 9.45 1.14 1.24 .59 .11 .19 3.91 .81 .20 Women ............................................. 9.79 1.12 1.67 .83 .38 .24 3.20 .82 .39 

 Educational attainment, 25 years and

over:

Less than a high school diploma ........ 9.89 1.11 2.10 .57 .46 .20 2.90 .05 .36 High school graduates, no college 3 ... 9.20 1.19 2.24 .79 .45 .26 3.61 .05 .33 

Some college or associate degree ..... 9.17 1.28 2.07 .91 .64 .21 4.07 .13 .34 Bachelor’s degree and higher 4 .......... 8.95 1.41 1.79 .86 .76 .14 4.72 .12 .44 

 1 A primary activity refers to an individual’s main activity. Other activities done simultaneously are not included. 2 All major activity categories include related travel time. See Technical Note for activity category definitions. 3 Includes persons with a high school diploma or equivalent. 4 Includes persons with bachelor’s, master’s, professional, and doctoral degrees.

NOTE: Unless otherwise specified, data refer to persons 15 years and over. Persons of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity may be of any race.
Table 4. Employed persons working and time spent working on days worked by full- and part-time status and sex, jo

status, educational attainment, and day of week, 2007 annual averages(Numbers in thousands)

Characteristic Total employed

Employed persons who worked on

an average day

Employed persons who worked on

an average weekday

Employed pers

an average Sa

ho

Number Percent of employed Average hours of work 2 Number 3 Percent of employed Average hours of work 2 Number 4 Pe

em

Full- and part-time status and sex

Total, 15 years and over 5 ........................................ 155,502 108,042 69.5 7.57 129,650 83.4 7.93 56,002  Full-time workers ................................................... 121,444 89,049 73.3 8.05 107,121 88.2 8.45 45,490  Part-time workers .................................................. 34,058 18,993 55.8 5.36 22,522 66.1 5.43 10,517  Men 5 ....................................................................... 83,012 59,279 71.4 7.89 70,659 85.1 8.27 32,017 

 Full-time workers ................................................... 71,243 52,917 74.3 8.21 63,190 88.7 8.65 28,447  Part-time workers .................................................. 11,770 6,362 54.1 5.19 7,499 63.7 5.16 3,542  Women 5 .................................................................. 72,490 48,763 67.3 7.20 58,996 81.4 7.51 23,968 

 Full-time workers ................................................... 50,201 36,133 72.0 7.81 43,934 87.5 8.17 17,007  Part-time workers .................................................. 22,288 12,631 56.7 5.44 15,028 67.4 5.57 6,972 

Jobholding status

Single jobholders ...................................................... 140,447 95,901 68.3 7.47 116,323 82.8 7.80 46,666 Multiple jobholders .................................................... 15,055 12,141 80.6 8.43 13,329 88.5 9.06 9,307 

Educational attainment, 25 years and over

Less than a high school diploma .............................. 11,503 8,073 70.2 7.88 9,794 85.1 8.05 3,861 High school graduates, no college 6 ......................... 38,947 26,457 67.9 7.87 32,792 84.2 8.07 11,334 

Some college or associate degree ........................... 34,697 23,596 68.0 7.67 28,136 81.1 7.97 11,883 Bachelor’s degree and higher 7 ................................ 45,418 33,834 74.5 7.47 40,525 89.2 8.07 18,117 

 1 Holidays are New Year’s Day, Easter, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. Data were not collected abo

2007.

 2 Includes work at main and other job(s), and excludes travel related to work. 3 Number was derived by multiplying the "Total employed" by the percent of employed persons who worked on an average weekday. 4 Number was derived by multiplying the "Total employed" by the percent of employed persons who worked on an average Saturday, Sunday, and holiday 5 Includes workers whose hours vary. 6 Includes persons with a high school diploma or equivalent. 7 Includes persons with bachelor’s, master’s, professional, and doctoral degrees.

NOTE: Unless otherwise specified, data refer to persons 15 years and over.
Table 5. Employed persons working on main job and time spent working on days worked by class of worker, occupa

and day of week, 2007 annual averages(Numbers in thousands)

Characteristic Total employed

Employed persons who worked on

an average day

Employed persons who worked on

an average weekday

Employed pers

an average Sa

ho

Number Percent of employed Average hours of work 2 Number 3 Percent of employed Average hours of work 2 Number 4 Pe

em

Class of worker (main job only)

Wage and salary workers ......................................... 144,264 99,246 68.8 7.51 120,343 83.4 7.84 47,967 Self-employed workers ............................................. 11,137 7,347 66.0 6.68 8,592 77.2 7.00 4,657 

Occupation (main job only)

Management, business, and financial operations .... 24,976 18,872 75.6 7.66 22,639 90.6 8.26 9,177 Professional and related ........................................... 30,116 20,675 68.7 7.27 25,342 84.1 7.70 9,895 Services .................................................................... 25,576 16,326 63.8 6.92 18,916 74.0 7.07 10,589 Sales and related ...................................................... 17,469 12,873 73.7 7.15 14,799 84.7 7.47 8,343 Office and administrative support ............................. 21,325 13,580 63.7 7.34 16,858 79.1 7.50 4,835 Farming, fishing, and forestry ................................... 6 ( ) 6 ( ) 6 ( ) 6 ( ) 6 ( ) 6 ( ) 6 ( ) 6 ( ) 

Construction and extraction ...................................... 8,755 6,011 68.7 7.99 7,403 84.6 8.12 2,394 Installation, maintenance, and repair ........................ 5,759 3,994 69.3 8.11 5,167 89.7 8.43 1,479 Production ................................................................ 9,928 6,607 66.5 8.32 8,439 85.0 8.41 1,950 Transportation and material moving ......................... 10,416 6,693 64.3 7.81 8,225 79.0 7.97 3,265 

Earnings of full-time wage and salary workers

(main job only) 5

0 - $480 .................................................................... 28,618 20,904 73.0 7.74 24,868 86.9 7.92 11,093 $481 - $730 .............................................................. 26,778 18,719 69.9 7.97 23,268 86.9 8.18 6,690 $731 - $1,150 ........................................................... 27,639 19,286 69.8 8.07 24,118 87.3 8.31 7,920 $1,151 and higher ..................................................... 27,432 20,313 74.0 7.94 24,393 88.9 8.69 10,927 

 1 Holidays are New Year’s Day, Easter, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. Data were not collected abo

2007.

 2 Includes work at main job only and excludes travel related to work. 3 Number was derived by multiplying the "Total employed" by the percent of employed persons who worked on an average weekday. 4 Number was derived by multiplying the "Total employed" by the percent of employed persons who worked on an average Saturday, Sunday, and holiday 5 These values are based on usual weekly earnings. Each earnings range represents approximately 25 percent of full-time wage and salary workers. 6 Data not shown where base is less than 1.2 million.

NOTE: Data refer to persons 15 years and over.
Table 6. Employed persons working 1 at home and at their workplace and time spent working at each location by full- 

status and sex, jobholding status, and educational attainment, 2007 annual averages

(Numbers in thousands)

Characteristic Total employed

Employed persons who worked on

an average day

Employed persons who worked at

their workplace on an average day 2

Employed pers

home on an 

Number Percent of employed Average hours of work Number Percent of those who worked Average hours of work at workplace Number Pe

tho

w

Full- and part-time status and sex

Total, 15 years and over 4 ........................................ 155,502 108,042 69.5 7.57 93,450 86.5 7.86 21,465  Full-time workers ................................................... 121,444 89,049 73.3 8.05 78,476 88.1 8.24 17,131  Part-time workers .................................................. 34,058 18,993 55.8 5.36 14,974 78.8 5.88 4,334  Men 4 ....................................................................... 83,012 59,279 71.4 7.89 51,700 87.2 8.11 11,782 

 Full-time workers ................................................... 71,243 52,917 74.3 8.21 46,815 88.5 8.35 10,397  Part-time workers .................................................. 11,770 6,362 54.1 5.19 4,884 76.8 5.79 1,385  Women 4 .................................................................. 72,490 48,763 67.3 7.20 41,750 85.6 7.55 9,683 

 Full-time workers ................................................... 50,201 36,133 72.0 7.81 31,660 87.6 8.07 6,734  Part-time workers .................................................. 22,288 12,631 56.7 5.44 10,090 79.9 5.93 2,949 

Jobholding status

Single jobholders ...................................................... 140,447 95,901 68.3 7.47 83,252 86.8 7.77 17,663 Multiple jobholders .................................................... 15,055 12,141 80.6 8.43 10,197 84.0 8.56 3,801 

Educational attainment, 25 years and over

Less than a high school diploma .............................. 11,503 8,073 70.2 7.88 7,478 92.6 7.92 500 

High school graduates, no college 5 ......................... 38,947 26,457 67.9 7.87 23,966 90.6 8.01 3,398 

Some college or associate degree ........................... 34,697 23,596 68.0 7.67 20,443 86.6 7.97 4,660 Bachelor’s degree and higher 6 ................................ 45,418 33,834 74.5 7.47 26,645 78.8 7.94 11,670 

 1 Includes work at main and other job(s) and at locations other than home or workplace. Excludes travel related to work. 2 Individuals may have worked at more than one location. 3 "Working at home" includes any time persons did work at home and it is not restricted to persons whose usual workplace is their home. 4 Includes workers whose hours vary. 5 Includes persons with a high school diploma or equivalent. 6 Includes persons with bachelor’s, master’s, professional, and doctoral degrees.

7 Data not shown where base is less than 1.2 million.

NOTE: Data refer to persons 15 years and over.
Table 7. Employed persons working on main job 1 at home and at their workplace and time spent working at each loc

of worker, occupation, and earnings, 2007 annual averages

(Numbers in thousands)

Characteristic Total employed

Employed persons who worked on

an average day

Employed persons who worked at

their workplace on an average day 2

Employed pers

home on an 

Number Percent of employed Average hours of work Number Percent of those who worked Average hours of work at workplace Number Pe

tho

w

Class of worker (main job only)

Wage and salary workers ......................................... 144,264 99,246 68.8 7.51 88,325 89.0 7.78 15,854 Self-employed workers ............................................. 11,137 7,347 66.0 6.68 4,149 56.5 7.40 4,003 

Occupation (main job only)

Management, business, and financial operations .... 24,976 18,872 75.6 7.66 14,762 78.2 8.03 6,096 Professional and related ........................................... 30,116 20,675 68.7 7.27 16,677 80.7 7.78 6,324 Services .................................................................... 25,576 16,326 63.8 6.92 14,407 88.2 7.14 1,852 Sales and related ...................................................... 17,469 12,873 73.7 7.15 11,107 86.3 7.48 2,669 Office and administrative support ............................. 21,325 13,580 63.7 7.34 12,506 92.1 7.71 1,063 

Farming, fishing, and forestry ................................... 5 ( ) 5 ( ) 5 ( ) 5 ( ) 5 ( ) 5 ( ) 5 ( ) 5 ( ) Construction and extraction ...................................... 8,755 6,011 68.7 7.99 5,551 92.4 8.24 640 Installation, maintenance, and repair ........................ 5,759 3,994 69.3 8.11 3,814 95.5 8.11 293 Production ................................................................ 9,928 6,607 66.5 8.32 6,468 97.9 8.34 265 Transportation and material moving ......................... 10,416 6,693 64.3 7.81 6,422 95.9 7.67 404 

Earnings of full-time wage and salary workers

(main job only) 4

0 - $480 .................................................................... 28,618 20,904 73.0 7.74 19,806 94.7 7.83 1,252 

$481 - $730 .............................................................. 26,778 18,719 69.9 7.97 17,674 94.4 8.16 1,274 $731 - $1,150 ........................................................... 27,639 19,286 69.8 8.07 17,655 91.5 8.31 3,082 $1,151 and higher ..................................................... 27,432 20,313 74.0 7.94 16,847 82.9 8.40 6,111 

 1 Includes work at main job only and at locations other than home or workplace. Excludes travel related to work. 2 Individuals may have worked at more than one location. 3 "Working at home" includes any time persons did work at home and it is not restricted to persons whose usual workplace is their home. 4 These values are based on usual weekly earnings. Each earnings range represents approximately 25 percent of full-time wage and salary workers.

5 Data not shown where base is less than 1.2 million.

NOTE: Data refer to persons 15 years and over.
Table 8. Time spent in primary activities 1 for the civilian population 18 years and over by employment status, presen

age of youngest household child, and sex, 2007 annual averages

Total

Activity

Average hours per day spent in primary activities

Youngest household child under 6 Youngest household child 6-17 No household children 

Total Men Women Total Men Women Total Men 

Total, all activities 2 ......................................................... 24.00 24.00 24.00 24.00 24.00 24.00 24.00 24.00 

 Personal care activities ................................................. 9.11 8.74 9.42 9.22 8.93 9.47 9.33 9.19  Sleeping ..................................................................... 8.47 8.19 8.69 8.46 8.31 8.59 8.55 8.56  Eating and drinking ....................................................... 1.16 1.21 1.13 1.12 1.17 1.07 1.32 1.35  Household activities ...................................................... 1.84 1.26 2.33 1.93 1.39 2.41 1.93 1.59  Housework ................................................................. .70 .33 1.02 .67 .26 1.03 .65 .30  Food preparation and cleanup ................................... .68 .32 .97 .61 .28 .89 .48 .29  Lawn and garden care ............................................... .13 .17 .08 .19 .30 .09 .26 .36  Household management ........................................... .11 .10 .11 .13 .09 .16 .16 .15  Purchasing goods and services .................................... .81 .68 .91 .76 .59 .91 .81 .66  Consumer goods purchases ...................................... .44 .36 .51 .38 .28 .48 .40 .31  Professional and personal care services ................... .07 .05 .09 .08 .04 .12 .10 .06  Caring for and helping household members ................. 2.04 1.25 2.69 .76 .50 .98 .07 .06  Caring for and helping household children ................ 1.83 1.12 2.42 .57 .37 .76 – –  Caring for and helping nonhousehold members ........... .10 .11 .10 .19 .18 .20 .24 .18  Caring for and helping nonhousehold adults ............. .05 .05 .04 .08 .10 .06 .08 .06  Working and work-related activities ........................... 4.37 6.01 3.00 4.64 5.70 3.69 3.67 4.13 

 Working ................................................................... 3.99 5.46 2.76 4.22 5.14 3.40 3.35 3.74 

 Educational activities .................................................... .15 .10 .20 .28 .30 .27 .22 .19  Attending class .......................................................... .08 .05 .11 .15 .19 .12 .09 .08  Homework and research ........................................... .06 .04 .07 .11 .08 .13 .11 .09  Organizational, civic, and religious activities ................ .28 .31 .26 .37 .28 .45 .37 .28  Religious and spiritual activities ................................. .12 .11 .13 .15 .12 .18 .16 .11  Volunteering (organizational and civic activities) ....... .12 .16 .09 .17 .13 .21 .16 .13  Leisure and sports ........................................................ 3.83 4.08 3.62 4.42 4.70 4.17 5.63 6.01  Socializing and communicating ................................. .67 .63 .70 .70 .61 .78 .73 .69  Watching television .................................................... 2.01 2.17 1.88 2.32 2.48 2.17 2.95 3.26  Participating in sports, exercise, and recreation ........ .25 .31 .21 .27 .39 .16 .30 .39  Telephone calls, mail, and e-mail ................................. .11 .06 .15 .13 .08 .17 .20 .14  Other activities, not elsewhere classified ...................... .19 .18 .19 .18 .17 .19 .21 .23 See footnotes at end of table.
Table 8. Time spent in primary activities 1 for the civilian population 18 years and over by employment status, presen

age of youngest household child, and sex, 2007 annual averages — Continued

Employed

Activity

Average hours per day spent in primary activities

Youngest household child under 6 Youngest household child 6-17 No household children 

Total Men Women Total Men Women Total Men 

Total, all activities 2 ......................................................... 24.00 24.00 24.00 24.00 24.00 24.00 24.00 24.00 

 Personal care activities ................................................. 8.94 8.72 9.21 9.00 8.71 9.31 9.00 8.86  Sleeping ..................................................................... 8.27 8.17 8.40 8.23 8.11 8.37 8.22 8.21  Eating and drinking ....................................................... 1.15 1.21 1.07 1.13 1.20 1.06 1.28 1.31  Household activities ...................................................... 1.47 1.21 1.81 1.68 1.32 2.06 1.63 1.44  Housework ................................................................. .52 .31 .79 .54 .24 .85 .54 .29  Food preparation and cleanup ................................... .48 .30 .72 .49 .26 .73 .38 .26  Lawn and garden care ............................................... .13 .18 .06 .18 .26 .08 .19 .27  Household management ........................................... .10 .11 .09 .12 .09 .15 .13 .13  Purchasing goods and services .................................... .72 .65 .83 .74 .60 .90 .76 .60  Consumer goods purchases ...................................... .38 .34 .43 .38 .29 .48 .38 .30  Professional and personal care services ................... .06 .04 .09 .07 .03 .11 .07 .05  Caring for and helping household members ................. 1.71 1.21 2.36 .69 .51 .89 .05 .05  Caring for and helping household children ................ 1.52 1.09 2.07 .52 .36 .67 – –  Caring for and helping nonhousehold members ........... .10 .11 .09 .15 .14 .15 .20 .16  Caring for and helping nonhousehold adults ............. .04 .05 .02 .06 .07 .05 .06 .05  Working and work-related activities ........................... 5.78 6.46 4.92 5.84 6.63 5.02 5.81 6.05 

 Working ................................................................... 5.31 5.88 4.58 5.36 6.03 4.65 5.36 5.55 

 Educational activities .................................................... .13 .08 .18 .21 .22 .20 .20 .17  Attending class .......................................................... .07 .05 .09 .10 .13 .06 .10 .09  Homework and research ........................................... .05 .03 .07 .09 .07 .12 .09 .06  Organizational, civic, and religious activities ................ .25 .29 .20 .32 .27 .38 .29 .25  Religious and spiritual activities ................................. .11 .11 .11 .14 .11 .18 .12 .09  Volunteering (organizational and civic activities) ....... .11 .14 .07 .14 .13 .15 .13 .12  Leisure and sports ........................................................ 3.51 3.84 3.10 3.96 4.20 3.72 4.42 4.80  Socializing and communicating ................................. .63 .62 .64 .63 .56 .72 .63 .59  Watching television .................................................... 1.79 2.00 1.53 2.03 2.20 1.85 2.28 2.56  Participating in sports, exercise, and recreation ........ .25 .31 .17 .26 .36 .16 .28 .37  Telephone calls, mail, and e-mail ................................. .07 .05 .10 .11 .06 .16 .16 .11  Other activities, not elsewhere classified ...................... .16 .16 .15 .16 .16 .16 .19 .20 See footnotes at end of table.
Table 8. Time spent in primary activities 1 for the civilian population 18 years and over by employment status, presen

age of youngest household child, and sex, 2007 annual averages — Continued

Not employed

Activity

Average hours per day spent in primary activities

Youngest household child under 6 Youngest household child 6-17 No household children 

Total Men Women Total Men Women Total Men 

Total, all activities 2 ......................................................... 24.00 24.00 24.00 24.00 24.00 24.00 24.00 24.00 

 Personal care activities ................................................. 9.63 9.04 9.72 10.01 10.21 9.92 9.87 9.87  Sleeping ..................................................................... 9.06 8.53 9.14 9.30 9.53 9.19 9.10 9.29  Eating and drinking ....................................................... 1.22 1.22 1.22 1.07 1.01 1.11 1.40 1.43  Household activities ...................................................... 2.95 1.83 3.12 2.85 1.79 3.37 2.44 1.90  Housework ................................................................. 1.26 .59 1.36 1.15 .38 1.52 .84 .32  Food preparation and cleanup ................................... 1.26 .59 1.36 1.04 .40 1.35 .66 .35  Lawn and garden care ............................................... .12 .11 .12 .23 .49 .10 .36 .54  Household management ........................................... .12 .03 .13 .17 .10 .20 .21 .19  Purchasing goods and services .................................... 1.06 1.19 1.05 .83 .59 .94 .90 .77  Consumer goods purchases ...................................... .61 .58 .61 .40 .24 .47 .42 .35  Professional and personal care services ................... .09 .19 .08 .12 .08 .15 .14 .09  Caring for and helping household members ................. 3.01 1.80 3.19 .99 .50 1.23 .09 .09  Caring for and helping household children ................ 2.75 1.48 2.94 .78 .39 .98 – –  Caring for and helping nonhousehold members ........... .12 .09 .13 .34 .40 .31 .30 .23  Caring for and helping nonhousehold adults ............. .07 .02 .08 .14 .29 .06 .11 .08  Working and work-related activities 3 ........................... .10 .24 .08 .18 .34 .11 .12 .21 

 Working 3 ................................................................... .00 .00 .00 .01 .00 .01 .02 .03 

 Educational activities .................................................... .24 .26 .23 .58 .76 .49 .25 .22  Attending class .......................................................... .11 .03 .13 .34 .52 .26 .08 .06  Homework and research ........................................... .10 .23 .08 .16 .13 .18 .15 .15  Organizational, civic, and religious activities ................ .38 .51 .36 .55 .37 .63 .49 .34  Religious and spiritual activities ................................. .16 .09 .18 .17 .15 .18 .21 .15  Volunteering (organizational and civic activities) ....... .16 .37 .13 .31 .17 .37 .22 .15  Leisure and sports ........................................................ 4.79 7.22 4.42 6.13 7.63 5.40 7.63 8.49  Socializing and communicating ................................. .79 .77 .80 .96 .95 .96 .90 .88  Watching television .................................................... 2.66 4.31 2.41 3.39 4.09 3.04 4.07 4.70  Participating in sports, exercise, and recreation ........ .27 .23 .27 .30 .57 .17 .33 .43  Telephone calls, mail, and e-mail ................................. .23 .22 .23 .20 .17 .21 .26 .18  Other activities, not elsewhere classified ...................... .27 .38 .25 .27 .23 .28 .25 .27 

 1 A primary activity refers to an individual’s main activity. Other activities done simultaneously are not included. 2 All major activity categories include related travel time. See Technical Note for activity category definitions. 3 Estimates include a small amount of work time done by persons who do not meet the ATUS definition for employed.

– Not applicable.
Table 9. Time spent caring for household children under 18 by sex of adult 1 and age of youngest child by day of wee

combined years 2003-07

Childcare activities

Average hours per day spent caring for household childre

Total Weekdays We

Total Men Women Total Men Women Total 

Persons in households with children under 18, total:

Caring for household children as a primary activity ................................ 1.31 0.81 1.74 1.40 0.79 1.92 1.1

Physical care ........................................................................................ .45 .22 .64 .47 .22 .69 .4Education-related activities ................................................................... .10 .06 .13 .13 .07 .17 .0Reading to/with children ....................................................................... .04 .02 .05 .04 .02 .05 .0Talking to/with children ......................................................................... .05 .03 .07 .06 .03 .09 .0Playing/doing hobbies with children ..................................................... .26 .22 .29 .25 .19 .29 .3Looking after children ........................................................................... .07 .06 .09 .07 .05 .09 .0Attending children’s events ................................................................... .06 .05 .06 .05 .04 .06 .0Travel related to care of household children ........................................ .17 .10 .23 .20 .12 .28 .0Other childcare activities ...................................................................... .11 .06 .17 .14 .06 .20 .0Persons in households with youngest child 6 to 17 years:

Caring for household children as a primary activity ............................ .77 .49 1.01 .85 .51 1.15 .5

Physical care .................................................................................... .15 .07 .22 .17 .08 .26 .1Education-related activities ............................................................... .11 .07 .15 .14 .08 .19 .0Reading to/with children ................................................................... .02 .01 .02 .02 .01 .02 .0Talking to/with children ..................................................................... .07 .03 .10 .08 .04 .11 .0Playing/doing hobbies with children ................................................. .06 .07 .05 .05 .06 .04 .0Looking after children ....................................................................... .04 .03 .05 .04 .03 .05 .0Attending children’s events ............................................................... .07 .06 .08 .06 .05 .07 .1Travel related to care of household children .................................... .16 .10 .21 .19 .12 .25 .0Other childcare activities .................................................................. .09 .05 .13 .11 .05 .16 .0

Persons in households with youngest child under 6:

Caring for household children as a primary activity ............................ 1.97 1.22 2.60 2.07 1.15 2.84 1.7

Physical care .................................................................................... .81 .41 1.14 .84 .39 1.21 .7Education-related activities ............................................................... .08 .05 .10 .10 .06 .14 .0Reading to/with children ................................................................... .06 .04 .08 .07 .03 .09 .0Talking to/with children ..................................................................... .03 .02 .05 .04 .02 .06 .0Playing/doing hobbies with children ................................................. .51 .42 .58 .49 .36 .59 .5Looking after children ....................................................................... .11 .09 .14 .11 .08 .13 .1Attending children’s events ............................................................... .04 .03 .04 .03 .02 .04 .0Travel related to care of household children .................................... .18 .10 .25 .22 .12 .31 .0Other childcare activities .................................................................. .15 .07 .21 .17 .07 .26 .0

 1 Persons 18 years and over living in households with children under 18, whether or not they provided childcare. 2 Holidays are New Year’s Day, Easter, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. Data were not collected abo

Thanksgiving Day in 2003-05; and New Year’s Day in 2007.
Table 10. Time spent providing secondary childcare for household children under 13 by sex of adult 1 and age of you

by day of week, average for the combined years 2003-07

Childcare activities 2

Average hours per day spent caring for household children 3

Total Weekdays Weekends a

Total Men Women Total Men Women Total M

Persons in households with children under 13, total .............................................. 5.30 4.12 6.28 4.35 2.99 5.47 7.50 6

Caring for household children as a secondary activity in conjunction with:

Personal care activities ..................................................................................... .28 .19 .35 .25 .17 .31 .34 

Household activities .......................................................................................... 1.26 .71 1.72 1.07 .49 1.56 1.69 1Purchasing goods and services ........................................................................ .41 .27 .52 .32 .16 .44 .62 

Working and work-related activities .................................................................. .20 .16 .23 .22 .15 .27 .15 Eating and drinking ........................................................................................... .65 .56 .71 .53 .44 .62 .90 Leisure and sports ............................................................................................ 2.10 1.94 2.22 1.64 1.40 1.85 3.14 3Other activities .................................................................................................. .42 .29 .52 .31 .17 .42 .66 Persons in households with youngest child 6 to 12, total ................................. 4.86 3.90 5.65 3.76 2.73 4.61 7.41 6

Caring for household children as a secondary activity in conjunction with:

Personal care activities ................................................................................. .27 .19 .33 .23 .17 .29 .34 

Household activities ...................................................................................... 1.13 .70 1.48 .87 .45 1.22 1.73 1Purchasing goods and services .................................................................... .31 .20 .40 .22 .11 .32 .51 Working and work-related activities .............................................................. .21 .17 .24 .22 .16 .27 .17 Eating and drinking ....................................................................................... .56 .49 .61 .44 .38 .50 .81 Leisure and sports ........................................................................................ 1.98 1.85 2.09 1.49 1.30 1.65 3.13 3Other activities .............................................................................................. .41 .30 .49 .28 .18 .36 .71 

Persons in households with youngest child under 6, total ................................ 5.62 4.27 6.74 4.77 3.18 6.09 7.56 6

Caring for household children as a secondary activity in conjunction with:

Personal care activities ................................................................................. .29 .20 .36 .26 .18 .33 .34 

Household activities ...................................................................................... 1.35 .71 1.89 1.22 .52 1.80 1.67 1Purchasing goods and services .................................................................... .48 .32 .61 .38 .20 .53 .69 Working and work-related activities .............................................................. .19 .15 .22 .21 .14 .27 .14 Eating and drinking ....................................................................................... .71 .61 .79 .60 .48 .70 .96 Leisure and sports ........................................................................................ 2.18 2.01 2.32 1.75 1.48 1.99 3.15 3Other activities .............................................................................................. .42 .28 .54 .34 .17 .47 .62 

 1 Persons 18 years and over living in households with children under 13, whether or not they provided childcare. 2 All major activity categories include related travel time. See Technical Note for activity category definitions. 3 Secondary childcare time is defined as time one has a child under 13 "in his or her care" while doing something else as a main activity; information on se

childcare is not collected for children over 12 years. Estimates include a small amount of care provided to own, nonhousehold children.

 4 Holidays are New Year’s Day, Easter, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. Data were not collected abo

Day in 2003; Thanksgiving Day in 2003-05; and New Year’s Day in 2007.
Table 11. Time spent in leisure and sports activities for the civilian population by selected characteristics, 2007 annu

Characteristic

Average hours per day spent in leisure and sports activities

Total, all leisure and

sports activities

Participating in

sports,

exercise, and

recreation

Socializing andcommunicating Watching TV Reading Relaxing/ thinking P

a

u

Total,

all

days

Weekdays

Weekends

and

holidays 2

Weekdays

Weekends

and

holidays 2

Weekdays

Weekends

and

holidays 2

Weekdays

Weekends

and

holidays 2

Weekdays

Weekends

and

holidays 2

Weekdays

Weekends

and

holidays 2

W

d

Sex

Men ....................................................... 5.48 4.85 6.96 0.36 0.55 0.50 1.04 2.63 3.46 0.26 0.33 0.30 0.38 Women ................................................. 4.76 4.32 5.80 .19 .27 .60 1.22 2.25 2.69 .41 .43 .25 .28 

Age

Total, 15 years and over ....................... 5.11 4.57 6.37 .28 .41 .55 1.13 2.43 3.07 .34 .38 .28 .33  15 to 19 years .................................... 5.71 5.21 6.84 .61 .85 .73 1.47 2.07 2.30 .09 .26 .15 .21  20 to 24 years .................................... 4.90 4.14 6.49 .36 .69 .66 1.20 2.00 2.83 .14 .11 .22 .14  25 to 34 years .................................... 4.23 3.59 5.72 .21 .38 .55 1.17 1.96 2.82 .11 .15 .15 .24  35 to 44 years .................................... 4.23 3.69 5.54 .24 .35 .51 1.08 2.02 2.57 .18 .22 .19 .40  45 to 54 years .................................... 4.59 3.93 6.14 .20 .35 .47 1.13 2.20 3.10 .29 .36 .27 .31  55 to 64 years .................................... 5.34 4.81 6.61 .24 .30 .48 .89 2.65 3.53 .55 .53 .32 .37  65 to 74 years .................................... 6.83 6.56 7.50 .33 .25 .61 1.18 3.68 3.88 .67 .85 .40 .43  75 years and over .............................. 7.79 7.69 8.04 .22 .27 .62 1.00 4.27 4.31 1.12 1.09 .81 .59 

Race and Hispanic or Latino

ethnicity

White .................................................... 5.06 4.50 6.38 .28 .43 .55 1.13 2.37 3.02 .36 .43 .26 .29 Black or African American .................... 5.74 5.42 6.45 .27 .26 .66 1.08 3.11 3.62 .21 .19 .45 .59 Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ................... 4.66 4.07 6.05 .21 .44 .54 1.22 2.52 2.94 .11 .10 .25 .27 

Employment status

Employed .............................................. 4.17 3.52 5.74 .24 .39 .45 1.10 1.86 2.72 .22 .27 .19 .24  Full-time workers ............................... 4.00 3.30 5.69 .22 .39 .41 1.05 1.78 2.76 .19 .26 .18 .24  Part-time workers .............................. 4.79 4.33 5.91 .31 .40 .60 1.25 2.16 2.59 .30 .31 .23 .26 Not employed ....................................... 6.92 6.65 7.51 .35 .44 .75 1.19 3.57 3.70 .58 .59 .45 .48 

Earnings of full-time wage and

salary workers (main job only) 3

0 - $480 ................................................ 4.02 3.39 5.59 .13 .25 .44 1.03 1.92 2.94 .10 .19 .22 .27 $481 - $730 .......................................... 4.16 3.44 6.05 .24 .30 .43 1.13 1.80 3.15 .15 .21 .23 .29 $731 - $1,150 ....................................... 3.97 3.30 5.55 .21 .38 .45 1.12 1.77 2.62 .23 .25 .13 .22 $1,151 and higher ................................. 3.89 3.12 5.67 .26 .54 .34 .93 1.67 2.55 .27 .38 .14 .19 See footnotes at end of table.
Table 11. Time spent in leisure and sports activities for the civilian population by selected characteristics, 2007 annu

Continued

Characteristic

Average hours per day spent in leisure and sports activities

Total, all leisure and

sports activities

Participating in

sports,

exercise, and

recreation

Socializing andcommunicating Watching TV Reading Relaxing/ thinking P

a

u

Total,

all

days

Weekdays

Weekends

and

holidays 2

Weekdays

Weekends

and

holidays 2

Weekdays

Weekends

and

holidays 2

Weekdays

Weekends

and

holidays 2

Weekdays

Weekends

and

holidays 2

Weekdays

Weekends

and

holidays 2

W

d

Presence and age of children

No household children under 18 ........... 5.64 5.11 6.88 0.28 0.40 0.58 1.12 2.72 3.38 0.45 0.50 0.32 0.37 Household children under 18 ................ 4.30 3.76 5.58 .26 .43 .52 1.14 1.99 2.58 .16 .20 .21 .26  Children 13 to 17 years, none

younger ........................................... 4.79 4.19 6.29 .35 .63 .57 1.26 2.15 2.65 .21 .26 .20 .30 

 Children 6 to 12 years, none younger 4.49 3.97 5.75 .27 .32 .50 1.13 2.09 2.69 .18 .25 .22 .33  Youngest child under 6 years ............ 3.89 3.35 5.09 .21 .40 .51 1.09 1.82 2.48 .12 .13 .20 .19 

Marital status and sex

Married, spouse present ....................... 4.77 4.26 5.97 .24 .37 .50 1.11 2.35 2.90 .37 .39 .27 .30  Men .................................................... 5.08 4.51 6.44 .29 .47 .44 .99 2.62 3.34 .28 .41 .33 .33  Women .............................................. 4.46 4.03 5.50 .20 .27 .55 1.22 2.09 2.47 .45 .38 .21 .26 Other marital statuses .......................... 5.51 4.94 6.83 .31 .46 .62 1.15 2.53 3.26 .30 .37 .29 .36  Men .................................................... 5.98 5.27 7.58 .45 .65 .59 1.09 2.63 3.60 .24 .24 .27 .44  Women .............................................. 5.09 4.65 6.14 .19 .28 .66 1.21 2.44 2.94 .36 .50 .30 .29 

Educational attainment, 25 years

and over

Less than a high school diploma .......... 6.11 5.71 7.00 .12 .28 .64 1.08 3.74 4.05 .24 .20 .62 .69 High school graduates, no college 4 ..... 5.52 4.99 6.76 .20 .34 .55 1.12 2.94 3.57 .31 .39 .37 .45 

Some college or associate degree ....... 4.79 4.28 6.04 .24 .28 .54 1.07 2.27 3.13 .36 .42 .22 .25 Bachelor’s degree and higher 5 ............ 4.38 3.82 5.70 .31 .38 .44 1.05 1.77 2.43 .55 .57 .14 .22 

 1 Includes other leisure and sports activities, not elsewhere classified, and travel related to leisure and sports activities. 2 Holidays are New Year’s Day, Easter, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. Data were not collected abo 3 These values are based on usual weekly earnings. Each earnings range represents approximately 25 percent of full-time wage and salary workers. 4 Includes persons with a high school diploma or equivalent. 5 Includes persons with bachelor’s, master’s, professional, and doctoral degrees.

NOTE: Unless otherwise specified, data refer to persons 15 years and over. Persons of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity may be of any race.
Table 12. Average hours per day spent in primary activities 1 for the civilian population, 2007 quarterly and annual av

(Not seasonally adjusted)

Activity

2007

Quarterly averages 

I II III IV

Total, all activities 2 ........................................................................................................... 24.00 24.00 24.00 24.00 

 Personal care activities ................................................................................................... 9.38 9.33 9.35 9.27  Sleeping ....................................................................................................................... 8.62 8.57 8.61 8.49  Eating and drinking ......................................................................................................... 1.24 1.26 1.22 1.22  Household activities ........................................................................................................ 1.68 1.98 1.84 1.86  Housework ................................................................................................................... .64 .66 .60 .66  Food preparation and cleanup ..................................................................................... .50 .51 .53 .54  Lawn and garden care ................................................................................................. .09 .32 .27 .15  Household management ............................................................................................. .14 .17 .12 .14  Purchasing goods and services ...................................................................................... .77 .77 .76 .82  Consumer purchases .................................................................................................. .37 .37 .38 .46  Professional and personal care services ..................................................................... .10 .09 .08 .07  Caring for and helping household members ................................................................... .58 .50 .50 .54  Caring for and helping household children .................................................................. .45 .39 .41 .43  Caring for and helping nonhousehold members ............................................................. .17 .19 .25 .19  Caring for and helping nonhousehold adults ............................................................... .05 .06 .10 .06  Working and work-related activities ................................................................................ 3.95 3.78 3.60 3.91  Working ....................................................................................................................... 3.60 3.44 3.28 3.56  Educational activities ...................................................................................................... .50 .40 .28 .53  Attending class ............................................................................................................ .32 .23 .15 .32  Homework and research ............................................................................................. .14 .12 .10 .18  Organizational, civic, and religious activities .................................................................. .36 .36 .32 .36  Religious and spiritual activities ................................................................................... .13 .16 .16 .14  Volunteering (organizational and civic activities) ......................................................... .19 .15 .13 .17  Leisure and sports .......................................................................................................... 5.01 5.05 5.50 4.87  Socializing and communicating ................................................................................... .64 .75 .83 .68  Watching television ...................................................................................................... 2.76 2.52 2.60 2.61  Participating in sports, exercise, and recreation .......................................................... .24 .34 .43 .26  Telephone calls, mail, and e-mail ................................................................................... .19 .17 .19 .19  Other activities, not elsewhere classified ........................................................................ .16 .20 .18 .24 

 1 A primary activity refers to an individual’s main activity. Other activities done simultaneously are not included. 2 All major activity categories include related travel time. See Technical Note for activity category definitions.

NOTE: Data refer to persons 15 years and over.