46.8
hours per week, prime-age women (ages 18–64)
No current source auditAll sources · source collection
Time Spent in Home Production in the Twentieth-Century United States: New Estimates from Old Data
Cambridge University Press (Journal of Economic History) · 2009
Population measured
Prime-age women and men, ages 18–64 (benchmark years 1900–2005); also all-ages per-capita and per-household aggregates
Source notes & limitations
Valerie A. Ramey, JEconHist 69(1), March 2009, pp. 1–47. Reconstruction from historical time-diary studies (Purnell Act studies 1920s, Wilson 1929, USDA 1944) linked to AHTUS/BLS modern surveys. Draft version: NBER Working Paper w13985 (May 2008, 63pp) — data tables are numerically identical to the published version; differences are prose tightening and table reformatting (5→5A/5B, etc.). Tier C (period-survey reconstruction). Key tables: Table 5A (nonemployed women), Table 6A (all women, prime-age), Table 7 (men, prime-age), Table 8A (all ages), Table 3 (component breakdown). Note: Ramey does not use the 1992-94 survey (missing data), so no 1990s benchmark. Splice point to ATUS: Ramey measures women-specific home production ages 18-64; ATUS measures all-adult household activities age 15+ — a concept splice that must caveat (Plan 004 Measure guard).
Where this source appears
27 records across 12 decades and countries. Documented gaps are included; a source cited for a gap does not establish a value.
0 of 27 records have a current source audit. A transcription check reads a declared numeric field from a pinned local source file; a calculation replay reads its operands and applies the declared method and rounding rule. A source audit does not independently validate the source or every claim in a record. The date is the last successful local audit; the build checks that its bindings still match.
US · 1900s
3.9
hours per week, prime-age men (ages 18–64)
No current source audit78
hours per week, all household members combined
No current source auditUS · 1910s
45.6
hours per week, prime-age women (ages 18–64)
No current source audit4.0
hours per week, prime-age men (ages 18–64)
No current source auditUS · 1920s
44.5
hours per week, prime-age women (ages 18–64)
No current source audit3.9
hours per week, prime-age men (ages 18–64)
No current source auditFood prep 19.9, house cleaning 9.3, clothing care 11.5, childcare 7.2, purchasing/mgmt/travel 4.4 hrs/week
hours per week by activity category, nonemployed town housewives
No current source auditUS · 1930s
43.2
hours per week, prime-age women (ages 18–64)
No current source audit6.0
hours per week, prime-age men (ages 18–64)
No current source auditUS · 1940s
41.9
hours per week, prime-age women (ages 18–64)
No current source audit7.7
hours per week, prime-age men (ages 18–64)
No current source auditUS · 1950s
41.5
hours per week, prime-age women (ages 18–64)
No current source audit9.0
hours per week, prime-age men (ages 18–64)
No current source auditUS · 1960s
40.9
hours per week, prime-age women (ages 18–64)
No current source audit11.2
hours per week, prime-age men (ages 18–64)
No current source auditTotal 51.8 hrs/week: food prep 16.5, house cleaning 9.5, clothing care 6.9, childcare 8.5, purchasing/mgmt/travel 10.4
hours per week by activity category, nonemployed housewives
No current source auditUS · 1970s
32.1
hours per week, prime-age women (ages 18–64)
No current source audit12.1
hours per week, prime-age men (ages 18–64)
No current source auditUS · 1980s
28.4
hours per week, prime-age women (ages 18–64)
No current source audit13.9
hours per week, prime-age men (ages 18–64)
No current source auditUS · 1990s
no reliable record accessible online
hours per week, prime-age women (ages 18–64)
No current source auditno reliable record accessible online
hours per week, prime-age men (ages 18–64)
No current source auditUS · 2000s
29.3
hours per week, prime-age women (ages 18–64)
No current source audit16.8
hours per week, prime-age men (ages 18–64)
No current source audit49
hours per week, all household members combined
No current source auditUS · 2020s
Ramey 2005: women 29.3, men 16.8 hrs/week (ages 18–64) → ATUS 2024: household activities 2.01 hrs/day, all adults 15+
hours per week vs hours per day — not directly comparable
No current source audit