Time Poverty of American Families Using the American Time Use Survey

Afshin Zilanawala, Columbia University

People can be money poor, time poor, or both. The usual poverty threshold is calculated as the amount of income, needed by a family of particular household size, to buy the minimum required goods and services from the market. What is not accounted for in these estimates is the additional need of time, not just money, for a household to function efficiently. The goal of this study is to use the 2003-2008 American Time Use Survey (ATUS) data to measure time poverty among households using four aggregated categories of time: home production, caregiving time, leisure, and paid market work. This study proposes to compare and contrast various models of time poverty to single and dual parent families. Preliminary results show the high incidence of time deficit among employed single parents with children. Also, nonstandard work shifts and employment by both parents results in higher levels of time poverty.