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USDA is one of the pioneers in time use data collection
and research. In the 1920s and 1930s, USDA’s Bureau
of Home Economics sponsored studies of homemakers' use
of time on farms and in towns, conducted by home economists
at State experiment stations. At USDA headquarters, mail
surveys were conducted of alumnae of women's colleges.
This research was influenced by the Country Life movement's
desire to apply industrial and home economics research
and objectives to agriculture and rural life, as well
as a desire to apply industrial efficiency models to home
production.
Findings from this period include the following:
- About 50 percent of homemaking time was spent
on providing food
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Running water and electricity made the greatest
difference in reducing time spent on housework
- The number of young children, not the size of
household, had the most effect on the number of hours
spent in homemaking activities
For more information, see the presentation, USDA's
Historical Studies of the Use of Time by Homemakers. 
Starting in 1984, ERS has collected time use data in USDA's
Agricultural Resource Management Survey
(ARMS). Part of the ERS mission is to provide economic
statistics about the financial performance of U.S. farms.
Since the majority of labor on farms is not paid a wage
or salary, a cost must be imputed to these hours in constructing
economic statistics. In particular, a cost for unpaid
labor is imputed for estimates of commodity cost of production,
productivity, and returns to owner’s equity in farm
capital.
Traditionally, the survey has collected information on hours worked by asking
respondents to recall this information for four quarters in
the prior calendar year. Although the recall period is
long, the results from this data collection method are
generally credible and superior to previous methods. To
help validate the quality of the data on work hours reported,
the time use question in the 2004 ARMS survey instrument
was modified to collect additional time use categories
that required respondents to account for a 24-hour
day. See Decoupled
Payments in a Changing Policy Setting for estimates
using ARMS time use data.
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