In this section, I will present how Germans generally use their time in order to get a better understanding about the allocation of these activity aggregates. Figure 3.1 depicts broad unconditional averages for both survey waves for all respondents of the German time use surveys.
Figure 3.1: Allocation of Time of All Respondents Older than 10.
9% 11%
Source: German Time Use Surveys for 1991/92 and 2001/02; own calculations.
In 1991/92 (2001/02), the average respondent spends about 35 (36) percent of their total available time sleeping which corresponds to an average of more than 8 hours per day. Over the years, time devoted to eating and personal hygiene increases from 2 hours in 1991/92 to about 2.5 hours 10 years later. In contrast, respondents devote on average an hour less to market work between 1991/92 and 2001/02. Over the survey waves, time spent on unpaid work or on volunteer work declined while the importance of leisure intensified. In 1991/92, the average person
Figure 3.2: Female-Male Ratios of the Allocation of (Un)Paid Work for People Aged 15 – 64.
0,0 0,5 1,0 1,5 2,0 2,5 3,0
market work household work care activities total work 1991/92 2001/02
Source: German Time Use Surveys for 1991/92 and 2001/02; own calculations.
allocated almost one fourth of the disposable time to pure leisure activities. Ten years later, people additionally report to spend about an hour more on sports, hobbies or other entertainment related activities compared to the previous wave.
In summary, people allocate on average more of their available time in 2001/02 to sleep and leisure activities at the expense of total hours of paid and unpaid work.
The increase in the time used for leisure between 1991/92 and 2001/02 went along with a decline in unpaid household work for the working age population but to a greater extent with a reduction in market work. This observation corroborates the findings by Hamermesh and Donald (2007) that paid and unpaid work are complements and that leisure is rather a substitute for any total work related activity.
Figure 3.2 represents the female-male activity ratios for both survey years. In the case that men and women allocate similar amounts of time to a specific activity aggregate, the ratio equals one. Ratios smaller than one suggest that men devote more time to this activity than women and vice versa. The figure shows that the division of tasks within German households is traditional so that women in the working age population spend about half as much time per day on market work than men. Regarding household work or even care activities, the female-male ratio shows a significantly higher female involvement with women spending on average about twice the time on household work than men. The multiplier is even higher for childcare activities. Over the years, these ratios diminished slightly but remained pronounced suggesting that gender roles did not weaken considerably.
The figure additionally shows the ratios of time spent on total work and reveals no big differences between the sexes. As mentioned above, this very stable relationship is also known as the iso-work fact (Burda et al., 2008).
Figure 3.3: Differences in Female-Male Ratios of the Allocation of (Un)Paid Work between West and East Germany for People Aged 15 – 64.
0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8
1991/92 2001/02
-0,4 -0,2 0,0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8
market work household work care activities total work 1991/92 2001/02
Source: German Time Use Surveys for 1991/92 and 2001/02; own calculations.
In addition to the general ratios, figure 3.3 shows differences in the female-male ratios between West and East Germans. Zero values indicate no differences in the activity ratios while negative values suggest that female-male ratios are lower in West Germany and vice versa. The figure reveals that market work in East Germany is more equally allocated between the sexes so that the ratio is about 0.2 percentage points lower than in West Germany. Also the female-male ratio in household production is significantly lower in East Germany: while West German women devote about twice as much time to unpaid work in the household, East German women allocate only 1.5 times more. A similar difference is obtained for care related activities. One possible reason could be the different gender roles resulting from different employment and family policies between the former GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany. The exposure of all Germans to the same family values and policies after reunification might further explain the strong convergence of these activity ratios over time. Chapter 7 exploits the particularities of the labor market in the former GDR before reunification as identification strategy.
Moreover, table 3.1 presents the minutes of time devoted to specific activity aggregates in West and East Germany by gender for both survey waves to make the distinction even clearer. Only people in the working age population are considered here. In 1991/92, women in West Germany spent on average about an hour less on total work than women in East Germany. While women in East Germany devoted more of their total time to market work, they also spent a lot of their remaining time on household production without neglecting childcare. This emphasizes the double burden for these women (Hochschild and Machung, 1989 and also Bianchi,
Table 3.1: Average Minutes of (Un)Paid Work for West and East Germany in 1991/92 and 2001/02.
1991/92 2001/02
————————— —————————
male female ratio male female ratio West Germany:
market work 371 185 0.50 280 163 0.58
household work 133 316 2.37 140 267 1.91
care activities 16 47 2.92 13 32 2.38
total work 504 501 0.99 419 430 1.03
East Germany:
market work 372 280 0.75 268 201 0.75
household work 167 281 1.68 159 248 1.56
care activities 17 39 2.33 10 22 2.17
total work 539 561 1.04 427 449 1.05
2000). In addition, East German men spent half an hour more time on total work activities which results from the 30 minutes more time allocated on average to household work. In 2001/02, the difference in total work related time between East and West German women shrank. In contrast, the total work gap between East German men and women widened in 2001/02. According to the average allocation, women in East Germany devote about 20 minutes more time to all work related tasks than men.
When only the allocation of time during waking hours is regarded, about 40 – 50 percent of the this time is devoted to market work. The active day is therefore restricted by and is organized around work. If individuals work at unusual hours, the possibility of social interaction and therefore social life is limited and also the reconciliation of family and work is challenged. This is an important aspect, since social interaction is an important determinant of an individual’s well-being.
Figure 3.4 shows the composition of leisure across a standard day. The shares are very similar in both survey years. On average, almost 50 percent of total leisure time is devoted to mass media and mostly to TV watching. Men allocate 5 percentage points more of their total leisure to mass media than women. In contrast, only little time is generally spent on sports and hobbies by men and women likewise. About 37 percent of the total free time consists of activities associated with entertainment and social life which shows that social interaction is of major importance. In addition, women enjoy higher average fractions of their total leisure time with interactive activities as compared to men.
As mentioned earlier, social interaction is restricted by a person’s working schedules and consequently also the composition of leisure activities is affected.
Figure 3.5 shows this composition by survey wave and shift status for employed
Figure 3.4: How is Leisure Spent by People in the Working Age Population in
Source: German Time Use Surveys for 1991/92 and 2001/02; own calculations.
Figure 3.5: Allocation of Leisure Depending on Working Schedules.
37% 35% 38% 37%
normal hours shift work normal hours shift work
1991/92 2001/02
Source: German Time Use Surveys for 1991/92 and 2001/02; own calculations.
individuals in the working age population. Compared to all people in the working age population, those individuals who are employed allocate on average slightly more of their total available leisure time to mass media. In addition, shift workers devote even 2 to 3 percentage points more time to mass media. In contrast to that, they spend slightly less of their free time on entertainment and social life. Over time, the composition of leisure activities for shift and daytime workers converges, but it has to be kept in mind that simultaneously the incidence of evening and night shifts declined drastically. While on average about 14 percent of all employees worked in such shifts in 1991/92, the fraction more than halved and reached 6
percent in 2001/02. The highest fraction of shift workers work in rotating teams.
While in 1991/92, about 61 percent of all shift workers reported to work in rotating teams, this share increased by 20 percentage points in 2001/02. This compositional change in shift work is important for the analysis of adverse social consequences induced by these jobs. I account for it by exploring not only shift workers but additionally also people who work during unusual hours in Chapter 6.
Figure 3.6: Allocation of Leisure of All Respondents with Children Younger than 7 by Sex.
Source: German Time Use Surveys for 1991/92 and 2001/02; own calculations.
The reconciliation of family and work is especially important for parents with young children. To gain a better understanding about the allocation of time of families with young children, figure 3.6 reports the average allocation of time by gender for both survey waves for parents with kids under the age of 7. Again, only activities during non-sleeping hours are depicted in this graph.
Traditional gender roles among parents with young children that are reflected by the allocation of time are illustrated in figure 3.6. While fathers allocate most of their time to market work, mothers devote the highest fraction to household work.
On average, working hours of mothers account for 12 – 16 percent while fathers devoted between 32 and 41 percent to market work. In contrast, fathers with young kids spent only about half as much non-sleep time to household work as mothers.
Childcare related activities are mainly overtaken by mothers who allocated between 12 – 15 percent of their available time to primary childcare related activities. Men, in contrast, spent only about 5 percent to primary childcare time.
Over time, the average unconditional fraction that mothers spent on primary childcare activities declined from 15 percent in 1991/92 to 12 percent in 2001/02.
The time that parents devoted to pleasurable activities such as sports, hobby and entertainment has increased over the same time span from a total of 26 to 32 percent and over. It must be noted, however, that only primary activities are evaluated here. In general, people are involved in more than one activity at the same time so that it is probable that parents enjoy social activities together with their kids but do not define it as childcare related time. Consequently, parental time with kids is underreported. However, primary time which is directly devoted to childcare activities is most important to the cognitive development of children. This is the reason why I will merely focus on these activities in this thesis when referring to parental time.
Figure 3.7: Composition of Whereabout for 2001/02.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
home work with others bars hotels misc. transport
all men women
Source: German Time Use Surveys for 2001/02; own calculations.
The German Time Use data additionally provides information about where people spend their time. Table 3.7 reports the whereabouts for 2001/02 for people under the age of 65. Unsurprisingly, more than 60 percent of the time is spent at home. Of the available 24 hours per day, men are about 15.5 percent at the workplace and more than 6 percent in public or private transport. Women, in contrast, are about 7 percentage points more at home during a standard day.
Furthermore, they spend about 9 percent of their time at the workplace. Compared to men, women additionally tend to have a slightly higher probability to visit others in their apartments.