Save ATUS

The proposed Federal budget for 2009 does not include any funding for the American Time Use Survey (ATUS). While it probably does not rival the Panel for the Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) in terms of return on the money, ATUS has already proven very useful despite its young age (created in 2003) and its low cost ($6,000,000 a year). An effort is currently under way to prevent the interruption of this survey. Consider signing it.

ATUS is conducted by asking 14,000 people minute by minute what they are doing during the day. This has proven tremendously useful in understanding what happens outside the market, in particular how chores are shared within households and how much children are supervised or taken care of.