TED: The Editor's Desk

June 29, 2009 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Time spent in household activities, 2008

On an average day in 2008, 83 percent of women and 64 percent of men spent some time doing household activities, such as housework, cooking, lawn care, or financial and other household management.

Percent of the civilian population engaging in household activities, averages per day by sex, 2008
[Chart data—TXT]

On an average day, 20 percent of men did housework—such as cleaning or doing laundry—compared with 50 percent of women.

Food preparation or cleanup activities were performed by 38 percent of men, compared with 65 percent of women.

On the days that they did household activities, women spent an average of 2.6 hours on such activities, while men spent 2.0 hours.

The data in this report are from the American Time Use Survey. To learn more, see "American Time Use Survey—2008 Results" (PDF) (HTML), news release USDL 09-0704.

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