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

International Seminar on Gender Statistics, 12 – 14 November 2013, Incheon, Republic of Korea

United Nations Statistics Division

Time Use and the International Classification of Activities for Time Use

Statistics (ICATUS)

Francesca Grum, Chief

Social and Housing Statistics Section

UNSD



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



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)



Time Use Data for gender statistics



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– Women’s 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



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



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



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)1.SNA work and related activities2.Unpaid domestic services for own final use within household3.Unpaid caregiving services to household members4.Community services and help to other households5.Learning6.Socializing, community participation and religious practice7.Leisure and sports8.Self-care and maintenance



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



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



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



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



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

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

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