Business Environment Profiles - United States
Published: 14 October 2024
Time spent on leisure and sports
5 hours per day per capita
-1.7 %
Time spent on leisure and sport includes, but is not limited to, time spent socializing and communicating, watching television, surfing the internet, playing games, reading, playing sports, exercising, participating in recreation, as well as traveling to and from these activities. The data from 2003 to 2023 is from the American Time Use Survey or the ATUS from the Bureau of Labor Statistics; the remainder is estimated by IBISWorld. Additionally, the figures presented pertain only to Americans aged 15 years and older.
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Americans spend over one-fifth of their day on leisure activities. On average, approximately 3 hours a day are spent watching television, 1 hour and 5 minutes socializing and communicating (excluding social events) and 32 minutes on sports, exercise or recreation (attending sporting events or participating). However, these proportions vary by gender, age, number of children and employment status. Across the population, men spend a more significant portion of their day on leisure and work activities but contribute far fewer hours towards household activities. Additionally, leisure time declines steadily from 15 to 44 years before turning the corner and trending up rapidly. Not surprisingly, Americans over 75 enjoy the greatest leisure time, nearly eight hours daily.
Short-term fluctuations in time spent on leisure and sports are typically driven by changes in the unemployment rate. This is because employed Americans work eight hours on workdays, taking up a considerable chunk of their time. Therefore, because of the poor economic climate early in the period, the time spent on leisure and sports jumped 3.1% in 2012. Since this period, however, this figure has trended downward and in 2013, 2015 and 2016, leisure time declined by 2.0%, 1.7% and 1.5%, respectively. Higher employment rates during this period limited individuals' time for leisure activities.
Nonetheless, as the labor market has tightened and put increased pressure on wages, individuals have had more disposable income for leisure activities. It has also prompted consumers to increase their leisure time and limit their working hours as much as possible. As a result, time spent on leisure and sports began to increase during the second half of the period, growing 2.1% in 2017 and by another 0.6% in 2018. In 2020, leisure time grew an estimated 8.1% because of the high unemployment associated with the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. A record number of people lost their jobs or were furloughed and worked from home, increasing leisure time for many. With the economy reopening, leisure time began to drop starting in 2021 and into 2024 as people start to go back to more of their regular routines, which means having to make adjustments in their schedules now that various tasks can be done in person again while certain obligations have to be met following delays in the previous years because of the pandemic. Even then, leisure time will expand in 2025 as economic conditions are set to eventually rebound more, helping consumers downstream garner more savings on recreational activities like vacations or personal time off.
Time spent on leisure and sports will increase through the end of 2030. New technology and conten...
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