Dec 31 -- The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) invites public comment on its request for OMB approval of the Well-being Module of the American Time Use Survey (ATUS). Comments should be submitted to OMB by February 10, 2021 (30 days after BLS submittal to OMB on January 11).
The American Time Use Survey (ATUS) is the Nation's first federally administered, continuous survey on time use in the United States. It measures, for example, time spent with children, working, sleeping, or doing leisure activities. The Well-being Module, a supplement to the ATUS, provides an additional dimension to data on time use by providing information about how Americans experience their time. Specifically, the Module collects information about how happy, tired, sad, and stressed individuals were yesterday, and the degree to which they felt pain, for three activities randomly selected from the time diary. The Well-being Module also collects 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 affective experience yesterday also are asked.
The Well-being Module was previously collected as part of the ATUS in 2010 and again in 2012 and 2013. The proposed 2021 version of the module is identical to the 2012 and 2013 module. The total estimated cost of the 2021 Well-being Module is $300,000. This cost is to be borne by the University of Maryland using grant funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and the University of Minnesota using grant funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
ATUS webpage:
https://www.bls.gov/tus/
FR notice inviting comment:
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/12/31/2020-28955/agency-information-collection-activities-submission-for-omb-review-comment-request-american-time-use
ATUS submission to OMB:
https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=202004-1220-002 Click on IC List for Well-being Module questionnaire. Click on View Supporting Statement for narrative on purpose, plans, methods, and schedule.
Point of contact: Rachel Krantz-Kent, ATUS Program Manager krantz-kent.rachel@bls.gov
For AEA members wishing to submit comments, "A Primer on How to Respond to Calls for Comment on Federal Data Collections" is available at
https://www.aeaweb.org/content/file?id=5806