Time Use and the International Classification of Activities for Time Use Statistics (ICATUS)

1
Time Use and the International Classification
of Activities for Time Use Statistics (ICATUS)
Francesca Grum, Chief Social and Housing
Statistics Section UNSD
2
What are Time Use Statistics?

• Amount of time individuals spend or allocate on
  specific activities (typically over 24 hours)
• They shed light on
• What individuals in the reference population do
  or the activities they engage in
• How much time is spent doing each of these
  activities

3
Availability of data

• TUS since 1990
• 185 Time use surveys were conducted worldwide
• 92 (50) in countries in developing regions
• 93 (50) in developed countries
• In total 85 distinct countries
• 28 developed countries (80 of total conducted
  a TUS)
• 57 developing countries (36 of total conducted
  a TUS)

4
Time Use Data for gender statistics
5
Growing interest Time Use Statistics and their
Policy Relevance

• Unpaid Work
• All productive activities
• Satellite accounts
• Volunteering
• Quality of Life
• Leisure
• Life balance
• Time poverty
• Well-being
• Learning
• ICT use
• Gender
• Womens contributions to economy
• Work distribution
• Work/Life balance

• Leisure
• Access/Consumption
• Culture
• Media Use
• Sports
• Paid Work
• Hours of work
• Unemployment
• Underemployment
• Health
• Exposure
• Physical activity
• Sleep
• Travel
• Commuting
• Patterns and modes

• Environment/Energy
• Energy Use
• Carbon footprint
• Populations
• Children
• Persons with disabilities
• Low income households
• Older people
• Care
• Adult Care
• Child Care
• Pet Care

6
Time Use Surveys

• Different options/costs
• 24 hour diary vs stylized questions
• Self-reported vs. recall interview
• ? Full diary
• Reliability of data
• Simultaneous activities

Particularly relevant for gender analysis
7
UN Classification of Activities for Time Use
Statistics ICATUS

• ICATUS is an international classification
• ICATUS is intended to be a standard
  classification of all activities that the general
  population may spend time on during the 24 hours
  of a day. Its main purpose is to provide a set of
  activity categories that can be utilized in
  producing meaningful statistics on Time Use
  (United Nations, 2005)

• Umbrella classification consistent with other
  major regional classification such as HETUS or
  CAUTAL
• In 2012 revision, particular attention to leave
  room for national adjustments

8
ICATUS

• Main objective to delineate the boundaries of
  economic and non-economic activities (paid and
  unpaid work) and productive and non-productive
  activities
• Consistent with the 2008 SNA
• Finalization in progress impact of new ILO
  definition of work

• Major divisions of ICATUS 2012 (work in progress)
• SNA work and related activities
• Unpaid domestic services for own final use within
  household
• Unpaid caregiving services to household members
• Community services and help to other households
• Learning
• Socializing, community participation and
  religious practice
• Leisure and sports
• Self-care and maintenance

9
ICATUS

• Mandate Statistical Commission 1995 (28th
  session)
• Custodian United Nations Statistics Division
• Development
• 1997 1st EGM Draft Classification
• 2000 2nd EGM Trial version, issued in UN
  Guidelines for TUS
• 2000-2012 Support of the implementation in
  countries compilation of feedback
• 2012 3rd EGM for revision and finalisation
• 2013 Presentation at different fora Statistical
  Commission, IAEG-GS, EGM on classification,
  International workshops, IATUR Conference
• 2014 Finalization taking into account new
  definition of work adopted at the 19th ICLS-Oct
  2013

10
International Classification

• Based on the Best Practice Guidelines (Hancock,
  2013)
• ICATUS and the 10 principles for international
  classifications
• Custodians,
• Conceptual Basis,
• Classification Structure,
• Classification Type,
• Mutual Exclusivity,
• Exhaustiveness,
• Statistical Balance,
• Statistical Feasibility,
• Statistical Units
• Time-Series Comparability

11
Revision of ICATUS

• Primary objective of ICATUS time spent on on
  unpaid work for household satellite accounts
• In line with other international standards
  especially SNA, new definition of work
• Remain consistent with previous versions of
  ICATUS around 25 countries adopted/adapted
  trial ICATUS

12
In Conclusion

• Increasing demand for time use statistics from
  different stakeholders measuring unpaid work,
  life-work balance, supplement labour statistics,
  well-being ? Promote the multi-purpose scope!
• Country capacity to measure and value unpaid work
  ? Training and study tours
• UN Guidelines on measuring Paid and Unpaid Work ?
  Available online
• ICATUS to be finalized ? UN Stat Commission

13
UNSD website on Time Use http//unstats.un.org/un
sd/demographic/sconcerns/tuse/default.aspx