Guidelines for Harmonizing Time-Use Surveys
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Guidelines for Harmonizing Time-Use Surveys
Author
UNECE
Date
2013Metadata
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Since the 1970s, policymakers have increasingly recognized the value of time-use information.
In most developed countries, time-use surveys have become an integral part of social statistics
and the number of countries that collect time-use data is rising. The international scope of
time-use surveys has raised the need for the exchange of good practices and for coordination in
defining the concepts, methodology and ways of aggregating the results.
Recognizing this, the Conference of European Statisticians (CES) conducted an in-depth
review of time-use surveys in 2010. The review highlighted the need to improve the
comparability of time-use surveys across countries and the usefulness of developing further
practical guidelines for their implementation. It concluded with the establishment of the Task
Force on Time-Use Surveys, which worked from 2011 to 2013 on developing the present
Guidelines. The Task Force was chaired by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and included
experts from ten national statistical offices on three continents, international organizations and
academics.
The draft Guidelines were consulted with all members of CES in April-May 2013. In June
2013, the CES plenary session reviewed the results and requested the Task Force to reflect the
comments from the consultation in the Guidelines. In October 2013, the CES Bureau endorsed
the present Guidelines.
The objectives of these Guidelines are to (a) help statisticians and policymakers understand the
importance of time-use surveys, (b) provide guidance in the design and implementation of
time-use surveys, and (c) improve the international comparability of their results. The
Guidelines include recommendations of preferred or best practice, based on the experience of
member countries of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and other
developed countries participating in the work of CES.
While the Guidelines mainly target national statistical authorities that carry out time -use
surveys, they also provide useful information for policymakers, researchers and other users of
time-use data.
UNECE is grateful to all the experts who were involved in the preparation of these Guidelines.