Time Use Survey

The Time Use Survey is an important national survey that collects vital information about how people living in Australia balance their time between work, leisure, caring responsibilities, and other activities.

The information is used by governments, researchers, and community groups to make decisions about child and adult care, health and well-being, and services for you, your family and your community.

Your personal information is being collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The ABS has a Privacy Policy for Statistical Information which provides more details about how personal information is protected for this survey. 

There are two components to the Time Use Survey (TUS), the questionnaire and the diary.

For the first part of TUS, you will need to choose someone to be your household representative who can answer questions about the people in your house. The household representative will also provide contact information for persons aged 15 years or over in the household. Consent from the parent or guardian of persons aged 15 to 17 years must be provided before contact details are collected. The questionnaire can be collected online or over the phone. 

The diary is to be completed by each person in the household aged 15 years and over. The diary is collected online. Some respondents may be able to complete the diary over the phone. 

The TUS questionnaire, which is completed by a household representative, collects personal information as defined in the Privacy Act 1988, including:

• name 
• address
• date of birth
• sex at birth
• marital status
• relationship with other household members
• country of birth
• year of arrival
• education
• employment
• caring responsibilities
• long term health condition(s)
• personal income
• contact information (email, mobile or home telephone number)
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status.

The diary part of the survey collects personal information on:

• name
• date of birth
• sex at birth
• gender
• whether you are caring for another person on your assigned diary day
• what activities you do during your assigned diary day
• start and end times of these activities
• working from home
• feelings about amount of time spent alone or with others
• self-assessed health and mental health status
• feeling rushed for time and reasons
• unpaid voluntary work.

The ABS separates identifiable information, such as names and contact details, from other information as soon as possible. The identifiable information is then stored securely and separately.

The ABS collects the personal information required to produce statistics from the Time Use Survey, and to maintain contact with you as part of our data collection activities.

The ABS is committed to maximising the value of data and statistics. One way to do this is to combine data from two or more sources together. This is known as data integration. The ABS does this to create new statistics and insights that help address important questions about Australia’s communities, economy and environment, and to save you time when responding to surveys.

Data integration protects your privacy by removing personal information before analysis. During data integration your personal information will be used in a manner that is not likely to enable you to be identified. You can learn more about data integration by visiting our Data Integration page or the Person Level Integrated Data Asset (PLIDA). 

The ABS may share information it collects as part of the DATA Scheme, established by the Data Availability and Transparency Act 2022. The ABS will only share personal information through the DATA Scheme with the written approval of the Australian Statistician.

Information shared through the DATA Scheme may only be accessed by accredited entities, and personal information must be protected at all times, in line with the Privacy Act 1988. Information can only be shared for permitted purposes and cannot be shared for national security or enforcement-related purposes. 

Consistent with the Census and Statistics Act 1905, the ABS, and any other accredited entity we work with as part of a project under the DATA Scheme, will never publicly release information in a manner likely to enable the identification of any individual. 

Requesting ABS data under the Data Availability and Transparency Act (DATA) Scheme provides more information about ABS participation in the DATA Scheme.

The answers you provide will be treated confidentially. 

The ABS protects the information it collects in many ways. Further information is available at Survey Participant Information - How The ABS Keeps Your Information Confidential.

We comply with the Privacy Act 1988 and the Archives Act 1983 in the storage, use and destruction of your personal information collected. De-identified information will be stored in the ABS’ secure environment for record keeping purposes and destroyed in accordance with relevant legislative requirements. The ABS will keep identifiable information, such as names, until processing the Time Use Survey is complete. 

The ABS:

• will use the information you provide to calculate statistics, which are released in ways that do not allow for the identification of individuals or households
• will provide access to information that does not identify you to approved researchers and only in a safe way
• may share information with DATA Scheme Accredited Data Service Providers, who help provide Accredited Users access to information that does not identify you. 

The ABS will not:

• share information with private organisations, such as direct marketing companies
• share data with other government agencies for compliance or regulation activities
• disclose your personal information to any organisation located overseas.

The Time Use Survey (TUS) is a compulsory ABS survey.  The questions included in this survey are being asked under the authority of the  Census and Statistics Act 1905. Under the Act, you are obliged to provide the information being requested, unless otherwise stated. 

If you do not complete and submit your survey questionnaire or diary, you may be issued with a Notice of Direction, which is a legal direction to complete the Time Use Survey. Failure to comply with a Notice of Direction is an offence under the Census and Statistics Act 1905 and can result in prosecution and fines of up to $313 for each day you don't participate. It is also an offence to provide false or misleading statements or information. The penalty is a fine of up to $3,130.

For any enquiries about accessing or correcting personal information provided in relation to the Time Use Survey, please contact the ABS on 1800 246 878.

The ABS Privacy Policy for Statistical Information has information about how you can make a complaint if you feel we have not adequately protected your privacy. The Policy describes how we will respond to your complaint, and what you can do if you are not satisfied with our response.

You can contact the ABS Privacy Officer (details below) who will respond to your enquiries or assist with complaints.

By email: privacy@abs.gov.au

By post: ABS Privacy Officer
Australian Bureau of Statistics
Locked Bag 10, Belconnen ACT 2617

The easiest way to complete the Time Use Survey is online.

If your household is selected in this survey, you will receive a letter in the mail. The letter will include instructions on how to create an ABS Survey Account and add your secure Form Access Code to complete the questionnaire part of the survey. Only one person (the ‘household representative’) will need to complete the questionnaire on behalf of the household. If it is not appropriate, or suitable, in your household to choose a household representative, please call us on 1800 246 878.

Around 2-6 weeks after the household representative has completed the questionnaire, we will contact each person in the household aged 15 years and over and ask them to complete a Time Use Diary. We will ask each person to create their own ABS Survey Account if they don’t already have one, claim a unique Form Access Code, and record their activities over a specified period. Creating your own ABS Survey Account ensures that your information is kept private from others in the household. For more information on how to complete the diary, please visit our 'How to complete your diary' page.  

If you are having trouble completing your survey, have lost your letter, or can’t go online, please call us on 1800 246 878. ABS staff are here to help. Please treat them with courtesy and consideration.

Each year we collect information about all aspects of life from thousands of households around Australia. We take a sample of households from all over Australia so we can build a picture that includes people from all backgrounds and lifestyles. To do this, we use a fair statistical method to randomly select households. 

Once we select a household, another household cannot be substituted in its place. This is because other households have already had their chance of selection. Changing the selection could mean some parts of the community are under or overrepresented.

It is very important that all selected households complete the survey to make sure the survey results represent the whole community. This means decisions made based on the results of this survey, such as the services provided by government, local councils and community groups, are made on the right information.

All household members aged 15 years and over will need to take part in the Time Use Survey. 

Only one person (the ‘household representative’) will need to complete the questionnaire on behalf of the household. Around 2-6 weeks after the household representative has completed the questionnaire, each person in the household aged 15 years and over will need to complete a Time Use Diary and record their activities during a specified time period.

If it is not appropriate, or suitable, in your household to choose a household representative, please call us on 1800 246 878.

If your household has been selected in the Time Use Survey you will receive a letter in the mail including instructions on how to complete the survey. The letter will also state that an ABS Interviewer may contact you if we don’t hear from you. 

A phone call from an ABS Interviewer may come from a phone number that you are not familiar with, or an ‘unknown’ number. This is because many of our ABS Interviewers are teleworkers and use ABS authorised mobile phones and office phones to conduct interviews over the phone. 

ABS Interviewers are here to help. If they contact you, please treat them with courtesy and consideration.

An ABS Interviewer will never ask you to provide or confirm your bank details or tax file number.

If you are concerned, you can call us on 1800 246 878 and we can confirm your selection in the survey and the identity of the staff member who is contacting you.

If it is possible, an ABS Interviewer who speaks the language of the household member will conduct the interview over the phone. Alternatively, arrangements can be made to organise an interpreter to conduct the interview. Please call 1800 246 878 to make these arrangements.

Please visit our Survey Account Help page for help creating and using your ABS Survey Account.

If you are having trouble completing your Time Use Diary online please visit our 'How to complete your diary' page, or call us on 1800 246 878.

We are committed to providing information and services to the widest possible audience. We are working to comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 to Level AA. We are aware some users may experience some issues and are working to improve them. If you find issues with a survey instrument or diary please contact us on 1800 246 878, or complete our Enquiry Form and we will be happy to assist you.

If your household has been selected in the Time Use Survey you will receive a letter in the mail. This letter will include a secure Form Access Code for the survey questionnaire. The letter will instruct you to choose a household representative to create an ABS Survey Account, add their Form Access Code, and complete the questionnaire part of the survey.  

Around 2-6 weeks after the household representative has completed the questionnaire, we will contact each person in the household aged 15 years and over and ask them to complete a Time Use Diary. Each person will receive a unique Form Access Code, either via email or over the phone, to complete their diary online. 

If you are having trouble finding or using your Form Access Code, please call 1800 246 878.

Full results of past surveys are available on the ABS website. The most recent results can be found in our ‘How Australians Use Their Time, 2020-21 financial year’ data release. 

Results from the current survey are likely to be available late 2025.

If you need help or more information about the Time Use Survey, please call us on 1800 246 878 from Monday to Friday 9 am to 7 pm AEST (9 am to 8 pm during daylight savings).

For help outside these hours please leave a voice message with your contact details and we will call you back. Alternatively, you can complete our Household Survey help request form, where you can outline the reason for your request, add your contact details, and we will call you back.