How do individuals allocate their time on job searching and leisure? What are the factors affecting individuals’ decisions to spend their time on job searching?
How do the unemployed differ from the employed and those out of labor force in time allocation on job searching? Answering these questions is important for potential economic policies on unemployment and welfare. For example, the information about time spent on job searching by the unemployed could be linked with the probabilities of finding a job. If those who spend more time on job searching are more likely to find a job, then policies could be shaped to encourage people to search more. Similarly, leisure is an indispensable component in people’s life. Understanding how people allocate their time on leisure could have implications on policies on improving people’s welfare. In this paper, time spent on job searching is defined as all the time spent by an individual searching for a job. This includes time spent on job interviewing, sending out resumes and waiting associated with interviewing etc. Time spent on leisure is all the time spent by an individual on TV watching, socializing, eating and personal care, other leisure activities like reading, and listening to music. Using data from American Time Use Survey between 2003 and 2013, I conduct my research revolving around the question “How do the unemployed female and male differ in their allocation of time on job searching and leisure before and after the financial crisis in the US”. Using the Heckman selection model, I find out that for unemployed individuals, they spend 92 minutes less on job searching during weekend than during weekdays; those on layoff are less likely to spend positive amount of time on job searching compared to those actively looking for jobs, however, if those on layoff do search, they spend roughly 3 hours