October 2012

IZA DP No. 6931: Immigrants' Time Use: A Survey of Methods and Evidence

published in: A. Constant and K.F. Zimmermann (eds), International Handbook of the Economics of Migration, Cheltenham, 2013, 373-92

This paper discusses research questions related to immigrants' time use, reviews conceptual and methodological approaches to examining time allocations, and reviews evidence from previous studies. It provides new descriptive evidence, using time-diary data from the American Time Use Survey. Although results vary with the country of origin, immigrant men in the U.S. tend to devote more time to market work and sleeping but less time to housework, community activities, and leisure than native men. Immigrant women tend to devote more time to housework, caregiving and sleep but less time to market work, community activities, and leisure than native women.