On May 5, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) invited public comments on its plans to revive the Well-being Supplement to the American Time Use Survey (ATUS). Comments are due by July 6.
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/05/05/2020-09532/information-collection-activities-comment-request
The ATUS is the first federally administered, continuous survey on time use in the United States.
https://www.bls.gov/tus/home.htm
To measure the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on workers' well-being, BLS proposes to reinstate the collection of the ATUS Well-being Module. The Well-being Module (N = 12,000) will collect information about how people experience their time, specifically how happy, tired, sad, stressed, and in pain they felt yesterday. Respondents will be asked these questions about three randomly selected activities from the activities reported in the ATUS time diary. The time diary refers to the core part of the ATUS, in which respondents report the activities they did from 4 a.m. on the day before the interview to 4 a.m. on the day of the interview. A few activities, such as sleeping and private activities, will never be selected. The module also will collect data on whether people were interacting with anyone while doing the selected activities and how meaningful the activities were to them. Some general health questions, a question about overall life satisfaction, and a question about respondents' overall emotional experience yesterday also will be asked.
The proposed 2021 Well-being Module will be included in the ATUS from October 2020 through December 2021. It is identical to a module that was collected in 2012 and 2013. The reinstated module will measure how workers feel (tired, stressed, in pain) during work episodes compared to non-work episodes, and how often workers interact on the job. It can also measure whether the amount of pain workers experience varies by occupation and disability status.
Information collected in the Well-being Module will be published as a public data set to facilitate research on numerous topics, such as: How people experience time spent in different activities, times of social interaction, and pain; the relationship between health and time use; and the relationship between evaluative and experienced well-being.
ATUS Well-being Module 2010, 2012, 2013 microdata files and questionnaire
https://www.bls.gov/tus/wbdatafiles.htm
On May 5, BLS staff wrote AEA staff: "Please refer to the 2013 ICR. The 2020 package materials are still being finalized, but there will be no major changes from the 2013 package."
The 2013 ATUS Well-being Module package is available at
https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=201301-1220-002 Click on IC List for survey instrument, View Supporting Statement for descriptions of design and methods.
Questions for ATUS staff can be directed to: ATUSinfo@bls.gov
