International Meeting on Gender Statistics within the Framework of the Millennium Development Goals

Aguascalientes, 19-21 September 2006

Guide to Producing Statistics on Time-Use

Demographic and Social Statistics BranchUnited Nations Statistics Division

Time-use survey – Developing new application for an existing methodology

Time-use studies are from the early 1900s, used for reporting on social conditions

Time-use method popularized by the 1972 “Multinational Comparative Time-use Study” involving 12 countries.

In late 1970s the United Nations Statistics Division explored one possible application of time-use methodology - development of welfare oriented measures to supplement the national accounts and balances.

In late 1990s with the call from Beijing for the comprehensive assessment of all forms of work, programme initiated covering several elements.

United Nations Programme on Time-use Statistics (1)

Began in 1997 as a response to Beijing Platform’s call for comprehensive measurement of all forms of work

Developed the conceptual framework for developing a suitable classification for time-use statistics that reflects the needs and specificities of market and non-market work in developing countries

Expert group meeting in November 1997 endorsed the proposed principles and called for a guide on producing time-use statistics

United Nations Programme on Time-use Statistics (2)

Project on the Development of Guide on Producing Statistics on Time-use supported by UNDP and IDRC (Canada)

Created a webpage for time-use statistics Presenting information about time-use surveys in

countries around the world Presenting basic statistical indicators from national

time-use studies Posting and inviting questions and comments on the

draft classification (ICATUS) The “Guide to Producing Statistics on Time-use”

published in 2004, in English; translation into Spanish and other UN official languages in progres

Focus of the presentation

The presentation deals with one of the key outputs of the programme -- “Guide to Producing Statistics on Time-use”

Provides highlights on the content of the Guide, discusses issues that need to be considered in the planning of time-use surveys

Introduces the proposed “International Classification of Activities for Time-use Statistics” currently under review

Identifies follow-up programme activities

What are time-use statistics?

Quantitative summaries of how individuals ‘spend’ or allocate their time over a specified period.

Summaries Average number of hours (in a day, in a week, in a

month, etc.) Total number of hours (in a day, in a week, in a

month, etc.) Spent on specific categories of activities

traveling (to work, shops); working (in paid job, unpaid work, domestic work,

volunteer work); in recreational activities; educational activities.

Why produce time-use statistics?

Originally, Focus on living conditions, leisure time for

working class Used for organized labour’s advocacy on

shortening working day Assessing effect of technology on

homemakers Providing insights into psychological and

social motivations Analyzing problem of commuting and

length of commuting time

Why time-use statistics? (2)

Measurement and analysis of quality of life or general well-being

Measurement and valuation of unpaid work (domestic and volunteer work)

Development of household production accounts

Improving estimates of paid and unpaid work

Analysis of policy implications of development planning issues.

Review of more than 50 country time-use surveys indicate…

Two general objectives of time-use surveys:

To provide indicators of the quality of life or well-being of the nation in terms of time-use patterns of people

To improve estimates of the value of goods and services, with particular emphasis on increasing visibility of women’s work through better statistics on their contribution to the economy

Time-use survey …

Has a definite application in gender statistics To map out the division of roles and

responsibilities within the household To obtain a comprehensive measurement of all

forms of work To better characterize and capture difficult-to-

measure non-market economic activities (especially those in which women are typically engaged)

To provide the required information on time allocation for valuing women’s and men’s unpaid work

Time-use surveys – Responding to Call from Beijing

Improving data collection on the unremunerated work that is already included in the System of National Accounts (SNA), such as in agriculture and other types of non-market production activities (para. 206 (f) (i)).

Improving measurements that at present underestimate women’s unemployment and underemployment in the labour market (para. 2006 (f) (ii)).

Developing methods quantifying the value of unremunerated work that is outside national accounts, such as caring for dependents, preparing food, for possible reflection in satelite accounts that may be produced separately from but are consistent with core national accounts (para. 2006 (f) (iii)).

Guide on Producing Statistics on Time-use

Organized in five parts: Part 1 – Planning and organizing for producing

statistics on time use Part 2 – Key design specifications for time-use

surveys, including specific issues on sample design

Part 3 - Collecting and processing time-use data Part 4 – Review and dissemination of time-use

data Part 5 – Classification of activities for time-use

statistics Annexes – Examples of questionnaires, codes for

contexts, training programme for data collection, suggested tables for time-use data

Specific features of time-use studies (1)

Main elements of time-use study Activities

Selective (predefined set) – time spent is recorded only for selected activity or set of activities within a specified period

Exhaustive – all activities that a person undertakes are listed as they are undertaken (over a period – such as 12 or 24 hours, 7-day week)

Time spent Time at start and end of the activity

Other issues that define context of the activity

Specific features of time-use studies (2)

Context is important Location – where the activity takes place

e.g., at home, at work, at school, at service centre, in recreational facility, etc.

Presence of other people when the activity occurred – “with whom?”

Beneficiary of the activity - “for whom?” Time at start and end of the activity

Motivation for the activity – i.e., whether activity is paid or unpaid

In summary…

Time-use survey is a tool for studying the scope of activities and time allocation of individuals (girls, boys, women and men)

The main component of the data collection instrument and that which takes the most part of the survey is the information about the nature of the activities and time spent on them

Basic characteristics of the respondents are also collected, as part of the survey, to enhance the analysis and the utility of the statistics compiled.

Time-use survey design components

I. Survey design

II. Sample design and Selection – population and

time dimension

III. Activity classification dimension

Type of survey instrumentused for recordingactivities (time diary or short/abbreviated formats)and related designs

Mode of data collection(interview, self-reporting orobservation)

Type of household survey(independent or component Of a multipurpose survey)

With following key elements

Types of survey instrumentGenerally two forms Time diaries – full time diary and

“light” simplified time diary - designed to enable respondent to report all activities undertaken over a defined period of time, with the beginning and ending time for each activity

Abbreviated (stylized) versions of diaries – respondents recall amount of time they allocated to certain activities over a specified period (day, week or year)

Mode of data collection

Direct observation – time use is observed and recorded by enumerator

Self-reporting – respondent records time use

Interview – personal/face-to-face or computer-aided telephone interview

Classification of activities for time-use statistics -

Provides detailed comprehensive, systematic listing of activities, that serves as a basis for assessing completeness of coverage of activities

Guides the interviewer for eliciting from respondent the required level of detail

Defines the framework for analysis of the time-use survey data

Serves as a basis for defining analytical and tabulation categories

Why another classification? (1)

Typically activity classifications for time-use surveys focus on detailed lists of non-economic activities such as housework, care-giving, socialization, recreation, learning, mass media

New classifications (developed by some countries) encompass expanded uses of time-use data – and included details for economic activities, and potential for differentiating activities relative to the production boundary of the system of national accounts (SNA)

Why another classification? (2)

Special consideration of gender- specific objectives for TUS

Expanding the objectives of time-use surveys to cover measurement and valuation of unremunerated work necessitates the adoption of an enhanced classification that sufficiently differentiates the various categories of activities…

Hence the proposed International Classification of Activities for Time-Use Statistics (ICATUS)

Principles underlying the proposed activity classification

Flexibility – applied to different analytical objectives as well as other potential uses of time-use statistics

Balanced and comprehensive coverage of groups of all activities, reflecting the structure of time distribution (e.g., productive and personal, formal and informal)

Detailed enough, identifying separately activities of important subpopulations

Close correspondence with classification schemes of historic data sets, and national and regional listings that have undergone cycles of testing, use and review

Purpose and nature of ICATUS

Serve as a standard activity classification for time-use statistics applicable to both developing and developed countries

Builds on existing national and regional classifications

Provide delineation of the boundaries of economic and non-economic activities and productive and non-productive activities

To measure all forms of work including unremunerated work

Consistent with existing standard classifications in labour and economic statistics

Main categories of ICATUS

First level of differentiation – relationship to the production boundary of SNA

Production within SNA boundary – “SNA work”

“SNA work activities” Personal activities

United Nations Programme on Time-use Statistics (3) – Next Steps

Compile experiences in the use of ICATUS in national time-use surveys

Revise and finalize ICATUS based on comments and other inputs from countries, derived from field application of the classification

Maintain webpage on national practices in time-use statistics

Update, at regular intervals, basic statistics and indicators on time-use

Revise manual(s) on measuring economic activity based on lessons from time-use surveys

To advance this work, and assist other countries….

Provide information (including documentation) on time-use surveys in countries, for updating UNSD webpage on time-use statistics

Send comments, lessons from the application of, and questions on the classification, to: email address genderstats@UN.org

For further information consult webpage -http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/ sconcerns/tuse/default.aspx

Thank you