NBER Program on Children members,
As some of you may already have heard, the budget the President has
proposed for FY2009 eliminates funding for the American Time Use Survey
(ATUS). The ATUS is an ongoing survey that has been conducted by the
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) since 2003 and provides the only
available current information on how Americans use their time. Although
the ATUS is a relatively new survey, it has already proven to be an
invaluable component of the statistical infrastructure. Even if you
have not worked with the ATUS yourself, you likely are familiar with
research carried out by NBER researchers and others that has used these
data.
Dan Hamermesh, Alan Krueger, my University of Maryland colleague
Suzanne Bianchi and I are organizing an effort to persuade the Congress
to restore the money needed for the ATUS. As one piece of this effort,
we have drafted a letter for which we are collecting signatures:
http://www.SaveATUS.org
We plan to send the letter to the chairs of the House and Senate
appropriations subcommittees responsible for the BLS budget, with copies
to other members of Congress. I hope you will consider signing the
letter (this can be done online at the indicated link) and also that you
will share the information about our effort with others you think might
be willing to help.
Please feel free to contact me if I can give you any additional
information. Not having the ATUS would be a real loss!
Katharine Abraham
P.S. Please accept my apologies if you have received multiple copies
of this message due to your inclusion on multiple NBER program mailing
lists -- there is apparently a way to avoid this duplication, but my
email system won't cooperate.
Professor Katharine G. Abraham
Joint Program in Survey Methodology
1218 LeFrak Hall
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
301-405-1004
301-314-7912 (FAX)
kabraham_at_survey.umd.edu
Received on Mon Feb 25 2008 - 10:07:15 EST
