Discretionary Time Declining

Adian McFarlance and Lindsay Teds, of the University of Manitoba have developed a paper: 'Work, Rest and Play: Exploring Trends in Time Allocation in Canada and the United States'. The Canadian data is taken from the General Social Surveys, based on telepone survey.
When looking at trends in discretionary time for Canadians, they found that:

• time allocated to 'leisure activities' remained relatively constant from 1992 to 2005
• when personal care activities including sleep were added, there was a slight drop of about 1 hour per week over the 14 year period
• when leisure activity, personal care and childcare were added together, little change was noted
• however, when all time outside of work was measured (market and non-market), almost 4 hours per week was lost between 1992 and 2005.

Canadian's Leisure - Hours Per Week

Activity	1986	1992	1998	2005	change '86 to '05
Leisure 1	32.9	35.58	35.31	33.08	0.10
Leisure 2	106.82	107.99	106.42	105.79	-1.03
Leisure 3	110.3	111.78	110.72	110.37	0.07
Leisure 4	115.78	114.0	112.25	111.82	-3.96

 Notes:
Leisure 1: entertainment, social activities, sports and hobbies, meida and comunication, relaxation activities, gardening and pet care
Leisure 2: leisure 1 plus personal care activities including sleep but excluding own medical care and care to other adults
Leisure 3: leisure 2 plus child care
Leisure 4: complement of time spent on market and non-market work.

Time for leisure activities (leisure measure 1) increased 0.26 hours per week for men (from 1992-2005) and decreased by 0.07 hours for women.

The study found that, compared to Canadians, Americans enjoy more rest and play after obligatory work. Leisure measure 4 has declined for both Canadian men and women while it has increased for their counterparts in the US.

http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/4211/
Munich Personal RePEc Archie Paper No. 4211, posted 07, November 2007