Time use, work and overlapping activities: evidence from Australia

The overlapping of activities is an important dimension of timeuse that has previously received little attention in economicanalysis. Most time-use studies have looked only at primaryactivities, ignoring the fact that individuals often performtwo or more activities simultaneously. This seriously underestimatesthe time spent on several economic activities such as childcareand housework which are also performed as secondary activities.Using a two-adult household sub-sample from the 1992 NationalAustralian Time Use Survey, this paper examines the incidenceand determinants of overlapping activities among 3,966 adultmale and female household members. It first shows that inclusionof overlapping activities in time-use measurements providesa better estimation of the economic contribution of individuals,especially in non-market production. Tobit models are then estimatedto examine the effects of economic, social and demographic factorson the incidence of overlapped work activity. The findings,which are found to be robust, showed that gender, householdlife cycle and composition, education, cultural norms, employmentstatus and level of income earnings influence the extent towhich individuals, particularly women, perform secondary workactivities. Conclusions are drawn in the final section of thepaper.