American Time Use Over the Business Cycle

By the end of 2009, the Great Recession that began in December 2007 had doubled the unemployment rate, reduced stock prices by 25 percent, and lowered housing prices by 10 percent. The advent of the monthly American Time Use Survey (ATUS) in 2003 facilitates a detailed examination of trends in time allocations following these large macroeconomic shocks to the prices of time and assets. Previous research has explored the effects of being unemployed on time use and well-being, while here I explore the broader impacts of macroeconomic fluctuations on time use by all consumers using the 2003–2009 waves of the ATUS. When unemployment is high, consumers report spending more time sleeping, preparing food and eating or drinking, socializing and relaxing, and using the telephone, while they spend less time working and traveling for work. High unemployment also increases time spent by some subgroups on caring for children and adults outside the household. These effects are largely independent of labor force status, suggesting they are broad-based and reflective of incremental changes in the price of time rather than large jumps associated with the onset of unemployment. Wealth effects associated with lower housing prices shift time use toward home production and away from leisure. These results shed new light on the channels through which macroeconomic fluctuations affect health and well-being.