The time people spend on overlapping activities has received little attention in economic analysis. Most time-use studies have looked only at primary activities, ignoring the fact that individuals often perform two or more tasks simultaneously. While using time allocation data about eight years ago, Maria Sagrario Floro noticed that lactating women were recorded as devoting less than two hours a day to breast feeding.
People s engagement in multiple tasks raises issues for measuring time allocation and well-being.
Researchers need to know which individuals perform multitasking and why they choose to overlap activities. If people engage in simultaneous activities frequently, then measurement of domestic work or child care or other unpaid activities may underestimate the time spent on these activities. Overlapping activities may also have policy implications. For example, one could measure economic activities and changes in them to determine the impact of the Asian economic crisis. People may intensify their work during a crisis.