This document introduces the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) and its design, implementation, and analytical methods. It is a user's guide published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) that provides detailed information about the survey, including its objectives, history, design, data collection, coding methods, data editing, imputation and item nonresponse, weights, linking, and estimation, publications and data files. The guide also includes a discussion of survey concepts and definitions.
This guide provides an overview of the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), the nation’s first continuous, federally administered time‑use survey. It describes the survey’s purpose – to measure how people divide their time among life’s activities – and outlines the historical development, design, and operational procedures.
The manual also details the data‑collection process, coding system, weighting methods, and reliability criteria, and includes numerous appendices with sample letters, coding lexicons, and statistical guidance for users of ATUS data.
The goal of the survey is to measure how people divide their time among life’s activities.
The survey is sponsored by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau.
January 2003 marked the official beginning of data collection for ATUS.
ATUS randomly selects one person from each household in the sample to respond to the survey.